The Breaking Point
by Sun Lion
Summary: <html><head></head>Sequel to Forbidden Fruit. In an attempt to save a loved one from near death, a certain hamster breaks a fundamental law of nature and turns their world upside down. Can the effects of which be reversed before it destroys them?</html>
1. Final Farewell?

THE BREAKING POINT

This is gonna be a sequel to Forbidden Fruit, but don't expect too much of a romantic aspect in this one. I wanted to do something a bit different. ;) If you haven't read the first, get over to my profile and do so or this will not make any sense. This one is in third person as opposed to first person - it's less about just Sandy and more about those around her.

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><p>A tiny yellow dot scurried between blades of grass much taller than itself. It darted in between trees and rocks, seemingly with a clear goal in mind, moving like a predator. The small shape stopped briefly at random intervals, sniffed the air, and continued. Whatever it was looking for, it was close. Finally, it reached the edge of a small bush. The creature reared back, preparing to pounce.<p>

_"Ookyoo!" _it screeched, jumping towards its supposed prey.

"Penelope! You found me!" said the intended target, catching its assailant in its arms. It was only Pashmina, one of the female ham-hams, playing a friendly game of hide and seek with her best friend and partner, Penelope. The motherly hamster, brushing her scarf out of the way, praised her companion for being such a good seeker.

It was a gorgeous summer day outside and the ham-hams were taking full advantage of it. It was late May, the trees had finally gained their full sets of leaves and the sun was out at full force. The gang had gone outside to enjoy a game of hide and seek coupled with a nice picnic, with everyone bringing their own specialty. Penelope, being the last seeker, only cared about finding her buddy and gave up with the rest. Pashmina called everyone out of hiding as she knew from experience the round was over.

"Aww man, I had the best hidin' spot, too!" said Howdy, climbing out from the cracks between the rocks at the clubhouse's entrance. The ham-hams slowly gathered back together near the front door of their tree. It was a rare day where every hamster was able to come and hang out, with each of their humans being out and about.

"I think we've played enough rounds for now, and it's practically noon already," Boss said. "We should start bringing out the food for lunch." Everyone happily agreed.

Each ham-ham got out their supplies and started setting up - laying out the blanket, placing out the food, and so on. There was enough food there to feed a hamster army.

"Wow, Bijou, these h'orderves look fantastic!" Stan commented, clearly trying to impress the white French ham. "Save some for me!"

"Oh, thank you Stan! Zey do look magnifique, no?" she replied, mostly to please him.

"What are we waiting for? Let's dig in!" cried Cappy.

Bijou nodded. "Oui! _Bon appetit!_"

"Or as Curtis taught me in Italian, _buon appetito!_" Dexter added.

Howdy followed up. "How about Japanese, like Goldie told me? _Itadekimasu!"_

"I think we get the point!" Boss butted in. "Dig in!" The feast went on without interruption, with the ham-hams mostly chatting amongst themselves. It was often surprising that despite how different each of the ham-hams were, with such varied backgrounds, that they could all get along so well. Most of the time, anyway. There were only a few exceptions, notably Howdy and Dexter, but it was all in good humor. Boss and Stan also quarreled from time to time but almost always ending in Stan scampering away to hide before Boss broke him in half. He and his sister, Sandy, also bickered like normal siblings, with the degree of how well they got along oscillating between never letting each other go and wanting to kill one another. Speaking of Sandy …

Since her brief escapade with the human boy, things had gone back to normal between Sandy and Maxwell. Maybe they weren't an "official" couple - they never really outright made things clear in the first place - but they definitely were more than friends. They ate by each others' sides today, always finding something to talk about. The two were like the opposite poles of a magnet. Stan made a grimace at the two lovebirds as they shared their lunch.

Sandy's ties with the human, Ryan, had not been completely broken, however. Every once in a while after his classes got out, anytime he decided to walk rather than drive, she would meet him by the edge of the sidewalk near a row of hedges. He recognized her as the hamster he once knew and kept a bag of treats in his backpack just for her. He figured that as long as he gave her food she would return regularly, as in his eyes she was just a homeless field hamster somehow scraping by on her own. He also knew a little of the rest of the ham-hams, remembering them from earlier, though he never saw them anymore. Maxwell did not even mind, as after the events that took place in the fall Maxwell was far more lenient in letting Sandy do as she pleased. Besides, he knew it was only logical that any affection between the two were just as friends, as the two were different species, and Sandy was well aware of that now that she came to her senses. To her, Ryan was kind of just like anyone else in the clubhouse, except, you know, the communication barrier and the whole height difference thing. But he was as friendly as any. Plus there was no harm in it, especially since the human could possibly come to their aid someday, like Herbert or Brandy. Besides, Maxwell had taken an interest in him after learning he was avid about science.

An hour after lunch, with everything put away, Sandy noticed that it was time. Ryan's classes got out earlier this semester, and he had to be finishing up soon so she might not see him for a long time. "Be right back, Maxy!" Sandy said as she made her way in the direction of the hedges. He knew exactly where she was headed.

She stopped by the edge of the row and waited for a few minutes. Right on schedule, he appeared down the sidewalk. Sandy didn't even need to get his attention as he stopped right away.

"Hey, Hammy! I brought you a treat again," he said, carefully handing it to her, and using the nickname he had previously given her. She grabbed it from between his fingers and stuffed it right in her cheek. Sandy craned her neck up to make eye contact with the tall human, who was leaning down with his hands on his knees. "That might be the last one for a while, though."

_"What? Why? School isn't over for a few more days_!" Sandy thought to herself.

The human pushed his rust-colored hair out of his eyes, which had been recently cut shorter (relatively, anyways) a few inches for summer. "My biology class is heading to that 'Flower Ranch' place on a bus tomorrow morning to go do some field work, and ehh, why am I telling you that? You don't even know what I'm talking about," he said. "But then school is over pretty much, and I graduate."

_"Wait! Like, don't stop! I can understand you fine!"_ she thought with a hint of disdain. She immediately grew excited at the notion of the field trip - Flower Ranch was where Pepper the farm-ham lived. Oxnard would jump at the chance to visit, as she was his object of much interest. But then - graduating? That would mean she would never see him on the sidewalk near the park again.

"Nice, right? Here, have the rest of these," Ryan said, pouring the remainder of the treats in his hand and placing them by the edge of the foliage. He was clearly intending this to be their last meeting. Sandy wasn't prepared to give up a friend this suddenly. The human extended his hand out carefully to stroke her cheek, then hitched up his backpack to head out. His shadow passed over Sandy as she watched him go.

Without hesitation, she picked up her things - including the treats - and made her way back to the clubhouse. She was going to make a proposal to the ham-hams, and she was going to keep it as nonchalant as possible.

She pushed her way through the bright green door with a handful of treats, immediately getting the attention of the rest of the gang. "Surprise!"

"Whoa! Look at all of them!" Hamtaro exclaimed. "Where'd you get them all?"

"Ryan gave them to me! I can't eat them all, so like, I was gonna share them with you all," Sandy replied. Oxnard looked on from behind the crowd with a sparkle in his eye.

"How cool!"

"These weren't in your cheeks, were they?" Stan asked.

"No, I carried them with my actual arms, bro…" Sandy said. As the ham-hams snacked on the treats, she decided it would be a good time to bring up going with on the field trip. "Say, I found out there's a bus going to Flower Ranch tomorrow. We haven't been there in a while…" she said casually.

"Ooh! I've been wanting to see Pepper all winter! I can't wait any longer!" Oxnard said. "You're saying there's a bus leaving for the ranch? Tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah. Tomorrow at the high school, in the morning, probably."

Oxnard's face was flushed with excitement as he turned to Boss. "Boss! Can we _please_ go? I don't know if Kana has any trips planned to see her cousin Dylan or anything, and Pepper will really miss me! Please, Boss?"

It didn't take much to convince the gruff hamster. "Well, twist my arm. We didn't have anything planned for tomorrow, and that'd be pretty fun. How 'bout it?" Everyone agreed, since Pepper's ranch was always a neat place to visit. Sandy was proud of her own convincing skills. She had won over the ham-hams, and now she got to spend one last day in the company of her human friend.

When the commotion was over, Sandy approached Maxwell. "Hey! Are you excited to go to Flower Ranch tomorrow?"

"Of course!" he answered. "I've been reading up on some gardening and botany over the winter and I've been excited to go do some field work myself. I've got a journal at home I can use to track my finds, and a guide to the native species. Fascinating, isn't it?"

"Like, whatever spins you wheels! You are such a geek."

"I am not a geek! I am a nerd."

"I think you're both!" they bickered playfully. "Anyway, Ryan will totally be on that field trip tomorrow and as long as we stick near that guy we should be able to catch the bus there and back. We'd hate to get stuck there."

"True, but Oxnard would be the happiest hamster on this side of the Mississippi." Sandy giggled at the notion. "…not to mention his libido would go through the roof. Expect a litter if we get stuck there for any period of time."

"Maxwell!" Sandy laughed, punching him in the arm. "Don't even make me think about that!"

It was nearly time for the ham-hams to go their separate ways for the evening. The plan was to meet at the clubhouse tomorrow and walk to the school in time to catch the bus. With that in mind, Sandy headed home for the night.

As it usually went, Hillary gladly greeted Sandy in her cage and filled up her bowl after she got home from her job at the gym. She lightly rubbed the hamster on the top of her head. Sandy wouldn't replace her human for the world. Sure, Ryan was friendly, but Hillary was her caretaker right from the beginning and no one could replace that. Sandy could slap herself for how foolish and selfish she had been earlier in the year. It was all "forgive and forget", though.

The striped hamster closed her eyes and ruffled up the bedding around her. She couldn't wait for tomorrow.


	2. A Terrible Mistake

Chapter 2

Not totally sure on the name of Pepper's ranch, but I believe in some episode past the english-dubbed ones they called it Flower Ranch. This is a long one but there's a lot of plot development here. On with the story!

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><p>The next day had gone off to a beautiful, sunny start. The cool air of the previous night still lingered but it would soon dissipate from the warm sun's rays. The ham-hams had met in front of the clubhouse as planned that morning, their fur damp from walking through the dew-spotted grass.<p>

Boss had corralled everyone together in front of the clubhouse door before leaving for the high school. Normally such trips would involve going to the elementary/middle school, where Laura and many of their other humans attended, but this was a special occasion. The high school was a bit of a further walk, but not by much. It would take the ham-hams about an hour to get there.

All the instructions and other directions had been read through by Boss, which everyone knew by heart already. Don't wander off, look both ways before you cross, don't take candy from strangers in questionable vans, et cetera, et cetera. They had planned a picnic again so most of the hamsters had brought something light to bring with in their traveling bags. Everyone except Maxwell, whose bag was filled to the brim with all kinds of biology books. Sandy offered to carry it for him since Maxwell wasn't exactly very strong or athletic, but he graciously declined.

It was time to head out. Everyone bunched up into an awkward clump and began their trek. It would be easiest for them to follow the hedgerow most of the way in order to avoid being seen by any inquisitive pedestrians. Still, the occasional dog walker passed by and at least one curious canine stuck their nose right up in the poor hamsters' business. Being the adventurous troublemakers they were, though, the ham-hams were kind of used to that sort of thing by now.

Finally, after walking a small marathon, they could see the large building in the distance. By the front door was a row of distinctive yellow-orange buses letting out people left and right. It was early in the morning and students were still just walking in the door so the ham-hams would have to wait until at least when classes began.

After a bit of waiting, the bustling of high schoolers trying to get to class finally died down. "I take that as a sign class must have started," Boss said.

"Good," Maxwell said. "Now that the crowds are gone, let's get closer to the buses." They followed his lead, carefully ticky-tickying over to the drop-off lane. As they approached, the buses each departed one by one until only a single one remained. The bus driver stuck a sign up on the window that read "BIOLOGY 102" in thick black sharpie. This had to be the one that would take them to Flower Ranch. Now they just had to wait for Ryan's class to come. Sandy glanced over and saw Oxnard all worked up, practically gouging a trench in the sidewalk with his feverish pacing. The exhaust from the bus bothered their sensitive noses and they had to stand further back in a patch of tall grass.

"Hey! Sandy! Is that them right there?" Cappy asked, poking her in the arm. She peeked her head out from the tall green blades.

"Yeah, that's the kid. Let's like, wait here until they all get on the bus. We can hide under his seat or something."

"He's not gonna slap one of us this time, is h-" Howdy began to say before Boss stuck a paw over his mouth. Both Sandy and Maxwell preferred not to discuss the issue after they made amends between themselves and the boy. Neither of them heard the comment, luckily.

"Your lead, Sandy, you know him better than us," Maxwell said. She smiled at the tall brown hamster.

"You heard the guy," Boss said, pushing her out ahead of the group. "C'mon! They're boarding!"

Sandy peeked out, looking both ways before crossing the sidewalk. Once the coast was clear, she motioned for the rest of the group to follow. They made a quick dash under the bus. As soon as the last student was on, they stuck in through the open door without detection. The ham-hams silently tiptoed over to Ryan's seat and gathered underneath. Humans couldn't hear or understand hamster speech so they didn't have to worry about being heard, especially over the sound of the noisy bus.

The ride there was long and bumpy and they couldn't even look out the window from their position. It was all good though and they entertained themselves chit-chatting the entire way there.

At last, they felt the bus lurch to a stop. "Cappy, sneak up to a window and see if we're there!" Boss said.

The small hamster did as he was told. "Yeah, this is it!" he called down to the rest of the group. "Wow, look at all those sunflowers! And hey, there's Dylan and Pepper!" Oxnard's ears immediately perked up.

Dylan was Kana's older cousin, owner of Flower Ranch. He and his hamster Pepper, the fiesty farm ham, took care of many animals, making sure they had the highest quality treatment. The farm was mostly a hobby farm, and the cows, goats, sheep and other livestock were used strictly for their renewable resources. The ham-hams in particular had fun interacting with the wide variety of unique animals.

"Think we should climb in his backpack?" Hamtaro said, motioning up to the redhead's open bag. Sandy immediately had a flashback to the time she had tried to do so and got herself, quite literally, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"No, we'd better not. Let's like, head out as soon as the last kid gets off. Then we can all do our own thing," she said.

The ham-hams did just that, and upon exiting the bus Dylan and Pepper met the students and their instructor happily. The hamsters hid under the wheel of the bus and listened.

"Welcome to Flower Ranch!" Dylan said, clapping his hands together in front of his chest. "I'm sure you're all glad to get off that bus and stretch your legs. We've got plenty of fresh air 'round these parts!" Pepper was on Dylan's shoulder and spotted the ham-hams hiding underneath the bus. She smiled as bright as ever and waved wildly.

"How soon do we get to hang out with Pepper?" Oxnard said impatiently.

"Quiet!" Boss hushed.

"According to your teacher, you're all supposed to meet back here at 3 to board the bus. Keep track of the time on your watches or cell phones or whatever you kids are carrying around now," Dylan said. "To start though, I'll give you all a tour of the area and show you all the animals, then take you around the fields. After that you can do whatever you want."

The class followed Dylan over to some barns nearby. Pepper had jumped off of his shoulder and bounded over to the ham-hams.

"Hey ya'll city-hams! What bring ya out here today?" she asked in mid-sprint.

Oxnard was the first to run out and greet her. "PEPPER! I missed you so much!" he shouted, embracing her in a big bear hug.

"Awh, Oxnard! I missed you too!" she said, hugging him back. "So, what bring ya'll around these parts?"

"There was a bus at school coming here today, and we decided it would be a perfect chance," Hamtaro said.

"Oh, you're with that class? Neat idea! I'm glad to see you out here though, I gotta show you around! Oh, and guess what? One of the cows just had a baby calf! You've _gotta_ come look, she's adorable!" Pepper said, talking at a mile a minute.

"Yeah, we'd love to, of course, Pepper!" Oxnard said. Many of the other nodded in agreement.

Maxwell had to interrupt. "I hate to be the oddball, but I was hoping to go see the plants nearby. I brought all kinds of books and journals to document my finding. I mean, I'd love to see the baby calf, but I didn't lug all this stuff around for nothing! Mind if I go off and do that?"

"Sure thing," Pepper said. "Just don't go too far and get lost, alright?"

"You should have a buddy come with, just in case," Boss said. "It'd be safer that way."

Sandy raised her hand. "Oh! I'll go!" She would have rather seen the calf than the plants, but she also wanted to remain by Maxwell's side.

Stan glanced over to his sister. "Hey, I'm going with that group too," he said, pointing his maraca at the two. "I don't want them getting into any _trouble_, ya know." He gave them the eye.

"If ya'll insist, but I'm tellin' ya, you're missing out!" Pepper said. "Follow me, everyone!" The ham-hams that were accompanying her followed closely. The three remainders, Stan, Sandy and Maxwell, began to walk in the other direction towards the fields.

"So, over here we've got the sunflowers. That looks like the main product at this farm," Maxwell began, flipping through his journal. "Look at how tall they are already!" Sandy listened intently. Stan on the other hand didn't care either way, only going with to the ranch because he had nothing really better to do. He shook his maracas to drown out Maxwell's incessant droning.

They walked into the field of sunflowers and marveled up at them for a while, the twins resting in the shade while Maxwell eagerly took notes on every last detail. They got up to walk to a new location as Maxwell wanted to see a new spot.

"Don't you have anything better to do Maxwell? This is boring." Stan said.

Sandy scoffed at her brother. "Like, why did you even come with us then? You would have probably had more fun with the other ham-hams. I am, in fact, enjoying the weather."

"The other ham-hams are boring too. What can I do?" Stan said. "Besides, I gotta keep you two outta trouble. I gotta be your main man."

"Like what kind of trouble?"

"Like, danger and stuff, you know. Who would tell the other ham-hams? What if a goat decided to have _both _you and Maxwell for a snack?"

Sandy stopped and put her hands on her hips, an incredulous look on her face. "Like, goats don't eat hamsters!"

"I can back that one up," Maxwell interrupted, holding up an interesting title called _What Goats Do Not Eat._

"I mean, figuratively, you know!" Stan said, casting a weird look at the book. "Anyway, keep going. Whatever, man." He crossed his arms.

"Ah, here!" Maxwell said, stopping and pointing up at a grove of trees at the edge of the field. "This species is native to the area." He dug through his backpack to find the proper book.

Sandy wasn't all that interested and was looking around at a nearby animal pen. "Hey look, horses!" she smiled. "How cool!"

"Hey, there's that kid, too," Stan said.

"Hmm? Oh, you're right!" Sandy said. Ryan was about 10 yards away absentmindedly leaning against the fence to watch the horses as well. He was by himself. Sandy had been so preoccupied she had already forgotten about him.

Maxwell was still digging through his bag. "Oh, shoot! I think I may have forgotten my book on trees back by the bus area. I'll have to walk back and get it." They were a long way from where they arrived so it was going to take him a while.

"I'll come with you Maxwell. Remember that Boss said he didn't want us going off on our own?" Sandy said. "Stan can come too."

"I don't want to walk all the way there and back," Stan complained.

"Stanley!"

Maxwell gave her a sympathetic look. "That's alright, I won't be very long."

"You sure, Maxy?" she asked.

"Yup, I'll be back. Have fun!" They watched the tall brown hamster run off.

"Great going, bro," Sandy said, giving her brother a dirty look. He simply shrugged it off.

"Fine. Wanna go look at the horses?" he asked.

"Sure." The two began to walk over in the direction of the split rail fence where a pair of horses were lazily nibbling on the grass. It was just then that Sandy noticed that her brother wasn't beside her. "…Stan?"

Just then she felt a playful shove against her back. "Ha ha! Come and get me, sis!" She heard his maracas bouncing around as her twin brother darted away, laughing maniacally.

"Augh! Why, you!" she fumed. "Get back here!" Sandy chased her brother all the way back to the medium-sized grove of trees. She zipped around every which way but could not find him. Where had he gone?

Stan had stopped by a tree trunk to catch his breath. "Heh, she'll never catch me!" he boasted to himself. Suddenly, an interesting scent caught his nose. "Hmm?" He sniffed the air and stepped away from the trunk to investigate. It was vaguely recognizable and quite delicious.

He saw a strange shape poking out of the weeds where it was coming from. "Is that … peanut butter?" he asked himself, pausing in front of it. "Yeah, it totally is! +1 for Stan!" He approached the treat and reached his paw out to grab some when suddenly a metal bar snapped over his head …

Sandy heard the snap and a brief startled shriek. "_Stan! _What was that? Where are you?" She began frantically searching for him, following the sounds of the struggling in the grass. She followed his scent.

There it was, in the mist of the tangled weeds, that Sandy gasped. Stan was pinned down, a bent metal bar compressing his chest. He had accidentally stumbled upon a mousetrap. It must have just barely missed breaking his neck, as in any other situation it should have been a fatal blow.

"S-s…-ah!" Stan tried to speak but could not get anything out. Without even a moment of hesitation Sandy leaped forward and attempted to release the trap.

It was not working. The spring holding it down was too strong for any single hamster to lift. "No! This can't be happening! _I won't let it!" _she said through sobs. Stan's eyes had also welled with tears as he felt so powerless against it.

The only other option would be to get the rest of the ham-hams, but they were so far away that there was no way she'd be able to get to them in time. By then it would be too late. If only Maxwell had been there! "Hold on Stan, I'll be back as soon as I can!" she reassured him. Sandy decided to check outside of the grove to see if any of the ham-hams were actually nearby, just in case. She bolted off.

She made it just past the edge of the trees and paused to look around. At this point she was growing hysterical. She couldn't even begin to imagine losing a member of the clubhouse, her _brother_, even. Why did this have to happen to them?

Just then, she remembered. "Ryan!" Sandy looked over and saw the red-headed human still standing facing the fence. He was the only one even remotely close by. But how would she be able to get him to follow her? The tiger-striped hamster streaked forward right to the human's feet and began pounding her fists against him. Her heart sank as she noticed he was wearing thick work boots for the farm - he most likely wouldn't be able to feel her. She punched him as hard as she could in frustration - nothing. It was looking grim.

There was only one option left, and it was a longshot. She had to do it for her brother, though, and nothing would stand in her way, especially not an ignorant human who was not paying attention. She would do anything to rescue her brother at this point.

Sandy backed up about a foot and puffed out her chest, and yelled as loud as she could muster.

"_HELP!"_

Something strange happened just then, and both of them felt it - almost as if something just shattered. Ryan, startled, withdrew from the fence and scanned his surroundings. He could have sworn he was the only one who had come out to the horse pens, yet it sounded like someone was right next to him. And he was right. The human finally noticed the small tiger-striped hamster waiting at his heels. Did she…?

Sandy couldn't believe it had worked, but now she had the feeling she had made a terrible mistake. Ignoring her instinct, she backed up and tried to make it clear to him to follow. The human then recognized her.

"…You again? H-how…?" he stuttered. Sandy bounced a few paces back and looked back at him, repeating until he got the idea. He had an expression on his face that made it look like he though he had finally gone insane.

He trailed after her as she ran into the wooded area, the human having to duck under branches and brush aside twigs from the dense bushes. There Sandy had found her brother again, noticeably suffering and just barely hanging on. She stopped at his side and peered up at Ryan.

"No way!" Ryan said, having apparently seriously underestimated the intelligence of the rodents in front of him. He had never seen an animal act this way before, but did not hesitate to aid them. "Here!" He slid his fingers under the bar, lifting it just enough to release the caught hamster. Stan gasped as the air returned to his lungs and practically choked on his own breath.

Sandy immediately wrapped him in a hug. He was definitely weak and shaken up, and held his sister back. "That was so close! Don't ever do that again!" Sandy said, stuffing her face into his shoulder.

"I owe you so big right now, sis! I'll never bug you again!" he answered. "Thank you for getting help! How did you do it?"

Ryan, however, was having a moment of his own. He had, very clearly, just heard these animals talk.

Sandy looked up at Ryan, who was crouched down still watching them intently. "Well … I don't know…"

Ryan paused for a moment, then answered back. "You … you spoke to me. I heard it." The two hamsters' hearts practically stopped. "I can hear you right now."

Stan looked over at his sister, giving her a look of "your move!" She stepped forward and cleared her throat, feeling nervous to be actually speaking to a human. "…You can?" she asked.

"Yeah. What's going on?" he replied, seeming anxious.

Something in Sandy told her she messed up real bad this time. She had never talked to a species other than her own. It felt normal when humans talked to them, but not the other way around. The two hamsters weren't sure what to think.

"I just … I don't know! I don't know what I did, but like, this has never happened before! I'm so sorry!" she held her cheeks and stepped back. "I just wanted to save my brother!"

"I think you did the right thing. But now what?" he asked.

"Yeah, what would make us suddenly be able to talk to, like, a human? This is totally messed up," Stan said. The human and the pair of hamsters looked at each other, evidently at a loss of words.

Ryan was the first to break the silence again. "Question for you, though…" he began. Sandy braced herself. "…Are you that same hamster that I always see? You lived in my house for a few weeks, didn't you?" She paused for a moment, then slowly nodded her head as she looked down at her toes. "How have you been able to track me down this well?"

"It's a long story," Sandy said. "Back this fall-" The three of them heard a small voice in the distance.

"Sandy! Stan! Where'd you go?" It was Maxwell, who had returned from getting his book. Ryan looked down at the twins for direction.

"That's our friend! You better get out of here, we don't want him to get all suspicious. We can explain later, we don't want him to catch us here. Go back over by the fence," Stan instructed. "We'll probably see you again on the bus!" Ryan nodded and proceeded back to where Sandy had found him. The rest of the trip to the ranch for him had pretty much been destroyed by this new revelation.

Maxwell finally came upon the twins by following their scent. "Hey you two! I got what I was looking for. What are you two doing over here?" he asked, peering around. "Oh, a mousetrap! Goodness, you two need to be careful around those things! Good thing it's already triggered. It must have been set out to deter pests from hanging around the field. Maybe we shouldn't be in here after all."

Stan and Sandy didn't say a word. They were prepared to keep this a secret from the rest of the ham-hams until they were ready. Besides, they didn't even know the exact details themselves, and maybe it would go away before anything else happened.

"Let's go back out in the open. There might be more of them, so watch your step," Maxwell said. "Actually, let's go see what the other ham-hams are up to." The two obediently followed. Back at the edge of the grass, Stan and Sandy saw Ryan trying to keep an air of inconspicuousness, but crossing his arms and looking rather frazzled. He cast a glance over at them as they ambled through the grass.

"Something wrong? You two seem quiet all of a sudden," Maxwell asked. Sandy had to quick come up with a response before her brother said anything stupid.

"…Nothing, just tired, is all. The wind and the sun can really do that to you sometimes, can't it?" she said.

"Yeah, I suppose," he answered. "We'll be back home in no time though. I think there's only a little bit of time left anyway."

As they hiked back to the main farmhouse Sandy felt uncomfortable with something, but couldn't really explain it. It was just then that she heard more voices. They were just passing by another fence.

"'Ey, you see dat guy get shocked by the electric fence today? Beh-heh-heh-heh!"

"Yeah, don't he know better? He must be new!"

It was the sheep. It wasn't just humans that she could communicate with now, it was apparently _everything. _Stan had heard it too. His astonished expression made that pretty obvious. Maxwell was not even affected.

Now she'd done it. It was very clear to Sandy that she had done something very, very wrong.


	3. Left in a Haze

Chapter 3

* * *

><p>The trio reached the rest of the ham-hams in no time. Everyone had appeared to be having a great time, except the twins of course. They couldn't help but feel a giant pit forming in the bottom of their stomachs.<p>

"Hamha everyone! Are we all here?" Maxwell called out cheerfully. While he ran forward to greet the others, Sandy leaned towards her brother to whisper in his ear. "_Don't talk too loud in case people can hear us." _She wasn't sure if they should have been embracing the fact they could communicate with non-hamsters now or keeping it secret, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Stan nudged her over, giving her a look of "No duh," but she couldn't help but feel concerned that her loudmouth brother would say something and give them away. It would be easiest for them right now to stay obscure. Maybe it was only temporary and would go away…

As Stan leaned forward to pick up something, Sandy noticed that the area on his neck and shoulders where the metal bar of the trap had caught him had left a bit of a nasty cut where it had dug into his skin. "Oh, Stan! Your neck! Are you sure you'll be alright?"

He looked up again and waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, it's no big deal. I'll just have to cover it up or just tell those guys I got into a fight with a pit bull and won. Maybe a grizzly bear. Something awesome, you know?" Stan licked his paw and ran it over the fur on the back of his neck to cover up the scar.

Suddenly, a crow perched on a wooden fence right by them let out a piercing cry, startling Sandy briefly before regaining her composure. She almost broke her own rule and shouted at it before Stan grabbed her. "Hey, maybe it's you we should be worried about!" The crow seemed to ignore them and flew off into the cornfield. They couldn't be too careful, however.

"Hey, are you two coming?" Boss yelled in their direction. "I think the bus is leaving soon! We should get over to the boarding spot!" The hamsters nodded and rushed over to where the rest of the group was.

As the group made their way over to the road, Maxwell had noticed the twins, normally cheerful and full of energy, just weren't acting themselves since he rejoined them in the wooded area. Something was up again, and they sure weren't going to hide it from him for long. He decided not to bring anything up until they were at the clubhouse and they had gotten some rest on the bus. It was dreadfully hot out now that the sun was at its peak and perhaps they really were just worn out.

They hid in the tall grass as they watched the students begin to gather up. Stan and Sandy immediately picked out Ryan as he wandered up a hill to reach his classmates. His expression was blank but his body language showed his concern. He crossed both arms and was holding his elbows with his hands as he waited for the bus to arrive, not speaking a word to anyone. They wanted to go talk to the human, ask him so many things, but didn't dare with so many people around

Soon, the huge yellow box of a vehicle pulled into view. The breaks screeched as gravel could be heard crackling under the tires. Before the bus driver could even open the door, the students had begun lining up to get inside. The teacher did a headcount as they filed in one-by-one. The ham-hams took this chance to dart inside while no one was paying attention.

Ryan, however, had been paying attention, being more alert since he knew there was "guests" coming along with them. As soon as he put his backpack into a seat to sit down, he saw a flash of yellow-orange down by the floor. Even though he should have expected it, it still caught him off-guard and he had found himself stifling his surprise. The whole bus ride home there would be tiny sentient hamsters under his seat. The thought made him shift uncomfortably. Rodents didn't irk him, but the fact that they were suddenly intelligent (for him, anyway) felt a bit creepy. He barely moved a muscle for the rest of the ride home.

Back in ham-ham land, things felt normal for most of them. They were already cheerfully reminiscing about the trip. "Did you see ze horses?" Bijou asked. "Zey were so big and handsome!"

"Yeah, weren't they great?" Boss said, agreeing with her only to impress her. He was blushing furiously though no one seemed to notice. Stan rubbed his sore neck as he rested against the wall while Sandy sat up on the raised wheel well to avoid the dirty, scuffed floor. She beckoned Maxwell to come sit by her, who willingly obliged.

Sandy wanted to tell the intellectual hamster what had happened so badly - she knew he was one of the only hams she could trust and that he would be absolutely interested in knowing. However, she wasn't sure how he would initially take the news. She casually played with a pebble by her feet as she deliberated in her head.

The bus ride back seemed even longer than it took the first time around, with Stan and Sandy impatiently waiting to get back. It was still relatively early in the afternoon so they had time to hang out when they got back, or rather figure out what to do with themselves. The other ham-hams were within earshot so they couldn't really discuss anything at the moment.

Soon, the group felt the bus slowing down as they got into the city and the majority of the ham-hams gathered up by the front of their hiding spot as they were anxious to get off of their bumpy ride. Everyone except for Sandy that is, who was watching what Ryan was doing. From below his seat she could see him concentration hard on writing something, holding his head close to the paper as he scribbled.

The bus lurched to a stop. The students by the front of the bus began to get up to make their way to the front as well as the ham-hams. The chattering amongst them grew louder as everyone was eager to be let off. As usual, the hamsters would still need to stay hidden. "C'mon, hams! Against the wall!" Hamtaro said. Sandy had been too distracted in thought and missed the instructions. Before she knew it, the rest of the gang had already begun moving forward and she had nearly been left behind.

She scrambled forward to catch up to the rest when suddenly she was stopped by Ryan's shoe which he had deliberately hooked in front of her. The tiger-striped hamster let out a tiny gasp before realizing who it belonged to. She took a moment to look up and was greeted by the Ryan's hand reaching down. Between his first two fingers was a tiny piece of paper, no larger than his fingernail. She snatched it from him and quickly scanned it. Written in the tiniest handwriting the human could muster, the note read:

_I'll be at school  
>tomorrow<em>

And on the reverse side,

_2:30 locker  
>206 green<em>

She looked up to acknowledge him but he had already started walking towards the exit. Sandy folded up the note and hid it behind her ear like one of Oxnard's seeds and dashed forward to catch up to the ham-hams.

"What took you so long?" Stan asked.

"I'll tell you when we get back," Sandy answered quietly prodding him in the ribs. The troop of hamsters leapt off the bus without detection and into the bushes. Sandy cast a quick glance towards the human before he disappeared behind the thick glass doors to the school, thinking about the note that was neatly tucked away. With all the ham-hams gathered, they began their tiresome trek back to the clubhouse.

* * *

><p>Upon arrival, the ham-hams sat by the stone-lined entrance to their tree where they took a quick break. Their paws were sweaty from the long, hot walk.<p>

"Phew! Talk about sizzling, you could cook an egg on that sidewalk!" Howdy commented.

Boss wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. "No kidding. Why are we all still out here? Guess what Panda installed for us!" Everyone simultaneously exclaimed "What?" and looked over in Panda's direction as the poor hamster's face turned red.

"It's nothing guys, really…" he said sheepishly.

"Nothing? Well, Panda here figured out how to make an air conditioner! Now we can say goodbye to those hot summer days at the clubhouse!" Boss said cheerfully, slapping Panda on the back and nearly toppling him over.

"Yeah! What are we waiting for?" Hamtaro said. Everyone got up to rush inside with the exception of Stan and Sandy.

Stan immediately picked up on what his sister was planning. "Are you sure you want to be telling people about this, sis? I mean, maybe it'll just blow over," Stan said sounding rational for a change.

"Yeah, he's like, the smartest ham I know, and we can rely on him. Trust me, kay?" Sandy explained, giving him a reassuring grin. She dashed off to catch the tall brown hamster. Maxwell had almost made it through the door before a pair of paws grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back.

"Eh? Don't you want to come inside, Sandy? You look overheated," Maxwell said. He was met with an icy glare of dead seriousness. "Is something wrong? You two were acting strange earlier."

"No … well, a little, but hear me out on this." Sandy began. "You just have to promise me something."

Maxwell gave the two a curious look, unsure of what to expect. "Go on…"

"You can't tell any of the ham-hams about this. Or anyone. This has to stay between us three, okay?"

"…Okay. I promise not to tell a soul." Maxwell stood up straight, bracing himself all kinds of things he wasn't ready for. Did she want to marry him? Was she pregnant? Why did Stan need to be here? He began to grow anxious. "I'm ready."

"Alright. Well to start off, we weren't entirely truthful when you came and found us in that patch of trees. See, Stan had been _screwing around_," she said, glaring in her brother's direction, "and he actually got caught in one of those traps you saw. It could have been a disaster, but-"

"You did? How did you get out?" Maxwell asked. He had breathed a small sigh of relief knowing the news wasn't anything between him and Sandy, even though it was still bad, but the worst had yet to come.

"… But anyway, we tried to lift it off and we couldn't. It was way too strong for even two of us. Everyone else was too far away, but that one boy named Ryan was there. I tried to get his attention too, but he didn't look, and finally I yelled to him and he somehow knew to follow me over."

"Hold up a sec," Maxwell interrupted, "You say that as if he heard you yell at him. Everyone knows humans can't hear hamster speech."

"I know right? But here's where it gets weird. He totally _did_ hear me."

Maxwell gave her a look of both surprise and disbelief. "I'm sure you must be mistaken…"

"She's not kidding," Stan butted in. "After he got me out of the trap he told us he heard her, and he was kinda in disbelief himself. We even talked to him for like a minute. As soon as you came we told him to split off from us to avoid any conflict. We weren't really sure what to do at that point."

"Yeah. And it wasn't just the human, it was like, every animal. We could hear what they were all saying as we walked past," Sandy said. "The sheep, the birds, all of them. Like, we've always been able to understand humans, but to have them understand _us _is a whole new issue."

Maxwell still couldn't wrap his head around this. Was this just a big practical joke? "And how do I know you're not just making this up to mess with me?"

"Look!" Sandy said, reaching behind her ear. She pulled out a scrap of paper and unfolded it, holding it out for Maxwell to take. He grabbed it and read the note, with Stan leaning over his arm to see what it was all about.

"I'll be at school tomorrow, 2:30 locker 206 green. No way," Maxwell said, examining the paper. "This certainly does look like it was written by a human. How did you get this?" Even Stan was curious as to how the note came about.

"He wrote it just for me. When we were on the bus he slipped it to me as everyone was getting off."

As much as Maxwell refused to believe it, all the pieces fit into place, between finding them in the grove of trees and the twins acting strange the rest of the trip. And there was no reason for the two of them to be making up such an extravagant lie.

"So the thing is …" Stan said, "Now what do we do?" The two twins stood shoulder to shoulder as they awaited Maxwell to form a response.

He fumbled around with the paper in his hands as he thought. This was a bit much to hit him all at once. "Well, I've only ever heard of this in stories. Sometimes it's like a spell or potion. But this should be neither of those things, right?" The two nodded.

"I'm thinking it might just be temporary. Like, maybe we should stop worrying about it," Stan said.

"It could be that," Maxwell said, "but what about the human now? Do you think he can understand other animals, or just hamsters? What if word gets out? Think about it. You'd better hope this keeps under wraps or we could be in a whole heap of trouble."

"I don't think he would want to share it. But take a look at that note again. It seems like he wants to meet us tomorrow. 2:30 locker 206, that must be his. I don't know what the 'green' is for, though," Sandy said, taking back the note and reading it again.

"I still don't know if I completely believe this, but maybe you should hold off on that. Stan may be right for once, maybe we should just pretend it never happened. After all, everyone will think we're crazy."

"Maybe you're right. I still don't know what's going on," Sandy said.

"Make sure this isn't just some trap, though, in case you actually go meet him," Maxwell said. "Have an escape plan if something goes wrong. You can never be too sure. And don't even think about straying away."

"Don't worry about it, Maxy. The two of us would keep track of each other," Sandy reassured him.

"Yeah, we'd be fine," Stan said.

"Think about this, too … your humans will be able to understand you now. Noel and Hillary. You have to make sure not to say a peep around them when you go home tonight," Maxwell said. The twins had not even thought about it. Even though the prospect of talking to their owners was exciting, they could not risk revealing themselves like Maxwell had said. News travels fast in the world of humans.

Sandy's ears dropped thinking about this wasted opportunity, but knew they had to stay safe. "We can do that. Right, Stan?" She nudged her brother, who nodded.

"Okay. But before you two go off and do other things tonight, there's one other hamster I think you should tell about this. Other than maybe myself, who is the wisest ham we know?"

The twins thought for a moment before Stan blurted out "…Uhhh … Boss?"

"No. Not even close," Maxwell said. "Think _Elder Ham_."

Elder Ham, the old, bearded hamster who was prone to bouts of sleep apnea, was not one of the hamsters the siblings would have liked to tell first. He was often the last one to go to then the group needed advice and his forgetfulness paired with his brusque attitude often proved irritating to the group. "Elder Ham? Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. I may know a lot, but Elder Ham has been around way longer than the rest of us. He may look aloof but he is far smarter than he lets on. He knows a lot about old tales and stories from the past and may have an idea of what happened at Flower Ranch that triggered this," Maxwell explained. Stan and Sandy seemed skeptical, but Maxwell usually knew what he was talking about. "Trust me. He wouldn't tell anyone. If I were you, I'd go pay him a visit as soon as possible."

"You sure? Do you think he'd be home?" Stan asked.

"Of course, he's got nowhere to be," Maxwell said. "He should be down in his little den across the park. Just stop in and say hi, he loves visitors."

The idea of visiting Elder Ham without the rest of the ham-hams seemed like it would be awkward. However, they really didn't have a choice. If the old ham could even give them sort of clue it would be worthwhile.

"We can do that. We'd better go now so we can like, be home in time for our humans though. We'll see you later!" Sandy said, waving goodbye at her boyham.

"See you later. I'm gonna head inside, it's too hot out here for me. Oh, and keep me updated!" he said, turning at last to enter the nice cool clubhouse. He shut the door tight behind him.

Sandy stuck the human's note back behind her ear and ran her paws over her head to straighten up her fur. "Well, should we head out?"

"Sure. You're doing the talking though, sis. I can't handle too much of the old ham," Stan complained.

"Oh come on! You're like, such a baby." Stan ignored her remark and they carried on. It was not a very long walk at all over to Elder Ham's place, but it was absolutely sweltering still. They kept cover in the shade to keep a little cooler.

The two eventually found their way over to Elder Ham's small abode. It looked like nothing more than a rock in the terrain, but underneath was a long, dingy staircase to his living quarters. The rather lackluster appearance was supposedly to keep intruders' attention elsewhere.

Stan pushed the boulder a bit and yelled down into the burrow. "Elder Ham! Are you home?" No answer. He put his paw to his mouth and hollered for him again. "Elder Ham, you h-"

"No need to yell now!" a grumpy-sounding voice called back, accompanied by some muffled shuffling of items and junk. They could hear him plodding up the steps. "Who is it? What do you want?"

"It's us, Stan and Sandy! The ham-hams!" Sandy replied.

The voice suddenly seemed a lot less irritable. "Oh! Well, you should have told me! I always welcome the ham-hams. What bring you here today?" Elder Ham asked, poking his head out from the hollow.

"Just a few questions. We were going to tell you something. Maxwell told us to come find you for help," she said.

"Well, if you don't say. I'm the ham to go to. Actually, I was just going to talk a jaunt over to my new 'vacation home', so to speak. You should join me. It's a much better place to listen to stories and such," Elder Ham said earnestly. Stan gave an unsure look, wrinkling his nose at his sister, but she happily agreed.

"Sure, we'll come with. How far away is it?"

"Not that far. Just over by the pond near the edge of the forest. I just wanted a place to go for some more privacy in my old age and this park just wasn't cutting it anymore," he said, combing his paw through his beard. "It's much more peaceful over there. Quite wonderful, really."

"Do the other ham-hams even know about it yet?" Sandy asked.

"No, not yet, but I was planning on inviting you all over soon. I don't mind one bit of you come over now, I've been hankering for some guests. I'll show you around the place before everyone else."

Sandy was excited for the tour, momentarily forgetting their initial goal. Stan begrudgingly dragged himself along. Elder Ham walked at a relatively leisurely pace but he still had a youthful vigor in his step. They ducked under the cover of the bushes to avoid the detection of humans in the park. No one said anything as they obediently followed the wise old hamster. The twins couldn't help but listen in on the chattering birds overheard, in which some cases they could make out entire conversations. They never knew how social the creatures could be. Perhaps other animals also formed their own "clubs" and hung out with friends. It was certainly a new experience.

"Yo Elder Ham, we came here to ask you something. Think we could talk about it on the way up to this place?" Stan said impatiently as if he were in some kind of hurry.

"Oh, no need to rush now. You know I can't concentrate on stories and walk at the same time," Elder Ham said as he shuffled along with the thick wooden cane. Sandy didn't appear to mind the wait.

As they got further and further away from the park, the constant din of the city grew quieter and the sounds of nature overtook their ears. Elder Ham did not change his pace and kept steadily marching on to his destination. This area of the forest was very old, mostly untouched by humans and overgrown with vegetation. It was a ways off the main trail.

Soon they could hear the rippling pond just past the branches ahead. Stan irritatedly pushed twigs out of his face, regretting the whole trip. "I hate nature! Can we go home yet?" he whispered to his sister, who told him to shush.

Elder Ham led the way for them and brushed the leaves away. On the other side of the bushes was a fabulous pond. Sandy's eyes lit up upon seeing it. They had never been to this place before. Though it might not have been much to look at for a human, it was a wildlife paradise. Tall grass had overrun the entire area, keeping most people out. Reeds lined the edges of some parts of the pool providing natural cover for those seeking it, while giant maples and evergreens circled the outer edge. The scenery was all reflected in the pond like a perfect mirror image. The peaceful lapping of the water paired with the refreshing scent of pines had already sold the location to Sandy, who was already thrilled to see the rest.

"This is so neat-o! How did you ever find this?" Sandy asked, busy looking in all directions.

"You haven't even seen the den yet," Elder Ham said, giving them a wink. He led them through the thick grass over to the other side of the pond where he kept his secret place. In a patch of shorter grass, they could see where Elder Ham had built his home.

Next to a particularly large pine was the start of a grassy knoll, but the likes of which had been carved out to form a cozy little dwelling. Complete with a front door, windows, and everything else a little house could ever need, it was like a magical little cottage secluded in the woods, almost like his own little hobbit hole. Foliage draped along the sides gave it sufficient concealment from anyone or anything prowling around. The grass around had been neatly trimmed to allow hamsters easier access.

"Wow! You did all this yourself?" Sandy exclaimed, stunned at the old ham's work.

"Not all of it, I had some help from my old friends. This has been here for longer than you might expect," he answered. "We used to come here just to hang out long before you were born, you see."

Sandy remembered him and Auntie Viv telling them stories about all their old friends from ages ago. Some had gotten sick, some had moved on, and only Auntie Viv remained with Elder Ham. It seemed sad, but the old hamster looked back on the past with joyful memories.

"By the way, why did you come out here with me again?" Elder Ham asked, his short-term memory loss showing through.

"We were going to ask you some stuff, remember?" Sandy was quick to answer.

"Oh, right. Why don't you come in?" he invited them. Sandy quickly joined him inside with Stan who was busy slapping mosquitoes out of the air. Through the circular door they entered an immaculate living area. The entire place was fully furnished, complete with a wooden theme all around. The floorboards creaked beneath them as they walked to the table to sit down. It was a definite change from Elder Ham's usually messy burrow in the park. The entire place gave off a warm and welcoming feeling.

Sandy kept gazing around all her surroundings. "I would have never imagined your place could be so … so-"

"Neat? I know. I keep most of my junk at the other place. I might move some more over here later. I plan to retire that old hole in the ground soon," he explained. Stan and Sandy in particular didn't spend very much time with the old hamster so this would be an interesting bonding experience, a way to find out more about him. Though sometimes frustrating due to the generational gap, he could be an interesting guy.

"Want a pipe?" Elder Ham asked Stan, gesturing to a dish of what looked smoking tobacco. Stan wrinkled up his nose again and politely declined. There were a lot of thing they apparently didn't know about the old ham. Without the whole crowd of ham-hams he felt more comfortable with himself.

Stan elbowed his sister impatiently to remind her about what they went all this way for. She had almost forgotten. After Elder Ham had poured them each a glass of water and asked them to sit down, Sandy spoke up. "So, since we came here to ask about something…"

"Oh! Yes yes, I forgot. Do tell me," Elder Ham said.

"We were wondering if you like, knew anything about hamsters being able to talk to humans," she said, taking a sip and gazing up at him expectantly.

Elder Ham gave them a curious look. "Hm. Like how might you figure?"

"Like, um … well, this is a weird story. But say there was a hamster that couldn't talk to humans before but suddenly could. And the humans could understand him. Other animals, too."

Elder Ham's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. "Strange, wouldn't it be?"

Sandy tried her best to get him to avoid the vague answers. "Does this sound familiar at all?" She hoped Maxwell hadn't led them into a corner.

"Yes, a bit … what makes you ask?"

Sandy fiddled with her cup. "Well … this kind of happened to me and my brother in real life."

Elder Ham immediately set down his glass and nearly choked on his water, and began clearing his throat "I-it did?" he coughed out.

Sandy, surprised at the harsh and sudden reaction, wasn't sure how to answer. Stan looked confused as well. "Umm … yeah, is there something wrong?" She hoped they hadn't done something as terrible as they had imagined.

The old gray hamster picked up his pipe and began puffing on it uneasily. His brow was heavily furrowed, looking down at the table and not making eye contact. "How did this come about?"

"It all started when Stan was in trouble. I needed help, and this human we know was the only one around. He wasn't paying attention so I had to like yell for his help. Afterwards, we found out we could understand each other somehow. It was totally weird."

Elder Ham took out his pipe and held it in his paw, a small stream of smoke rising out. "Well, if this doesn't just jog my memory. This reminds me of something from long ago."

Both Stan and Sandy's ear perked up. "It does? You mean other hamsters have been able to talk to humans before and we didn't know it?" It seemed like exciting news, but his dismayed appearance said otherwise.

"Yes, I met a group of hamsters before who this had happened to. Let me tell you the story," he said. Stan and Sandy moved their chairs in close, listening intently. "All I can say is it didn't end as well as you might hope."

Stan, now legitimately concerned, leaned forward. "Why? What happened?"

"Here's what I can recall. Back in the day, I knew a group of hamsters that liked to hang around each other during the day, kind of like you ham-hams but not quite so many of them. One of them deeply cared for their human, so much that one day the hamster blew off all normal conventions and went out of their way to wish their owner a happy birthday. Something went awry, and the hamster came back to tell us his human could understand him and vice versa. Of course, we didn't believe him, but let him go on. He told all his friends to do the same. I didn't have a human so I had no one to go to. One by one, they each came back telling the same story: they too found that their humans could understand them."

"So then what? What went wrong?" Sandy asked.

"Oh, where was I again?"

"The part where they could talk to their humans…"

"Oh yes, of course! It started out normally, though downright strange for me. I ended up looking through countless books looking for answers, but very little turned up until too late. Things took a downward turn from there. As the weeks went on, unfortunate things began to happen to these hamsters. I began seeing my acquaintances less and less until I stopped seeing them altogether, for my own well-being. I found other friends to spend my time with."

"What happened to them?" Stan asked. "What do you mean by 'unfortunate things'?"

The other twin shifted nervously in her chair. "Y-you don't mean that … that this could happen to us, right?" Sandy asked, his voice shaking.

"I'm not saying it could. I'm not saying it couldn't," Elder Ham explained. "Besides, my memory isn't all that great. These hamsters were kind of troublemakers to begin with. And perhaps my mind is tricking me into believing a story I heard way back in the day is something I really experienced. But please, take it with a grain of salt. All I'm saying is, if you're telling the truth and you can really understand other animals, do be careful."

"Careful? Why?" Stan demanded, slamming his paws on the table. "What happened to these guys? You're freaking us out! You're not making any sense!"

"Please tell us, Elder Ham! Do you remember any more?" Sandy joined, beginning to tremble in her seat.

"Well … I'd have to go look things up. Maybe I still have some articles and the passages from the books I read. But for now, yes, that is all."

Stan scoffed at Elder Ham's advice. "Sounds like a load of baloney to me. It's like we're back at Mr. Yoshi's mom's place listening to her telling a scary story. You don't really believe this, do you sis?"

"I … I don't know …" Sandy answered, beads of sweat gathering on her forehead.

"C'mon! I thought you liked these kinds of things!"

Elder Ham butted in. "Who is this human, anyway? Is he one of your own?"

"No, he's … he's a friend, of sorts," Stan answered for his sister. "We haven't talked to our humans at all. He's the only one."

"Interesting. It's good to have a diverse array of friends. You never know who you'll meet sometimes, often even polar opposites can become the best of friends," he said, returning to his regular relaxed demeanor. Sandy nodded, thinking of her and Maxwell.

"What do you think we should do, Elder Ham?" she asked.

"Well, I'd say follow your instinct. Don't go stand on top of the nearest mountain and shout the news to the entire world. Don't go off talking to just any animal simply because you can. For the most part, consider this a bonus. Take it as you will. For now, you best be going home. Visit me anytime if you'd like, I'll most likely be here. Keep me updated though." With that, he finished up his pipe and set it down on the table, the smoke forming a smelly haze in the room. The occasional golden sunray filtered in through the windows and splashed the room with light through the smog.

Stan and Sandy agreed, following the directions of the wise old ham. They would need to be getting home soon for their humans would return any time. "Thanks for the info, Elder Ham, and for the drinks and everything." Sandy said.

"Sure thing. You'll have to come visit with the rest of the ham-hams someday. I think I'm going to spend the night here, personally." The twins waved goodbye to the old ham as he shut his door behind him.

As soon as they were out of earshot from the cottage, Stan sighed in relief. "Glad that's over with. I could hardly take a breath in there with all that smoke. That wasn't hardly any help at all."

"Stan!" his sister exclaimed. "Be a little considerate, would you? He was like, plenty helpful. And he had a beautiful house. He can do whatever he wants in there, regardless of if you like it."

"Oh yeah? Well what did we find out from the old hag?"

Sandy had to think for a moment. "Well … we found out that this might have happened before. And that we should be careful not to let it get too public, just as Maxwell and I thought."

"And how does that help us? Like he said, it could have just been some story."

"If he was telling the truth, and I believe him, then maybe we can find out the how's and why's of this whole mess. I find it hard to believe that if there's like a possibility of communication between hamsters and other animals that we're the only ones that have figured it out."

"Whatever you say. I say we're dreaming, and that we're gonna wake up tomorrow and not remember any of this at all." Stan acted as though he just wanted to forget the whole ordeal, behaving as though he never experienced any events of the afternoon. He was just being stubborn, as usual.

Sandy simply rolled her eyes at her skeptical brother. She, however, had her priorities straight. She was too curious to pass up an opportunity like this. Tomorrow she would meet Ryan by the locker on his note, and Stan was going with her whether he wanted to or not. For now, though, they both needed to go home and rest. It had already been a long, tiresome day, and things would only get more bizarre.

* * *

><p>Sandy rested in her cage, anxious for her human Hillary to get home for she hadn't seen her since the whole issue of talking to humans came up. She didn't plan on saying anything, just like Maxwell had said, but it would be hard to resist the temptation. She would just have to act her normal, happy self.<p>

She waited and waited until finally her owner came up into her bedroom. She was late - usually she would make a trip up to visit her hamster right when she got home. This was okay, though, she couldn't be perfect. Sandy's water bottle was nearly empty and she hoped Hillary would fill it soon like she always did. The human girl opened up a window for fresh air, allowing the drapes to ripple in the warm breeze, and laid down on her bed to do some reading.

This was odd, Sandy thought. Why hadn't her human said hello yet? She hadn't even been acknowledged yet and it was almost dark out. Would she go to bed without even a word?

The tiger striped hamster padded over to the edge of her cage and place her paws on the bars, staring out at Hillary hoping to get some attention. At this point she was getting a bit peeved. She rattled the cage bars to no avail. Even the water bottle was not safe. In an attempt to get her owner's attention, Sandy violently shook the bottle so hard it detached from the cage. This would surely get Hillary to look over.

Not even the slightest response. How could her owner just suddenly choose to ignore her like this? She couldn't just let her go without water overnight, it would be cruel. It was totally unlike her. Would she have to pull out her big guns again?

Disregarding what she knew was right, Sandy puffed up her chest and sucked in a big gulp of air. At the top of her lungs, she screeched

_"HILLARY!"_

But unlike earlier in the day with Ryan, there was no response. Tears began to well up in the tiny hamster's eyes. Something was definitely not right. Sandy exited her cage to sip up the last remaining drops of water for her parched tongue and crawled back into her bedding to sleep, but couldn't quite shake the feeling that this was all connected. The pit that had formed in her stomach this afternoon had returned. It was as though to her human …

… she no longer existed.


	4. Broken Spirited

Chapter 4

* * *

><p>Sandy woke up the next morning to the sound of Hillary getting ready for work. Like the previous night, she stood at the edge of her cage waiting expectantly for any kind of hint that her owner knew she existed, but none came. Her human packed all her things together without so much as a passing glance towards the direction of the cage. Sandy's ears drooped, feeling rejected. She hadn't even so much as put out more food or water for her.<p>

She picked herself up and thought positively. It couldn't possibly be her owner's fault, could it? She felt bad trying to blame her own human. These things don't just happen overnight. Just the previous day Hillary had taken her out and let her roam around and she seemed happy when she played with her. It didn't seem as though she was depressed either, she seemed simply aloof. Something was up and Sandy was going to get to the bottom of it. First, though, she needed to talk to her brother.

As soon as her human left, the tiger-striped hamster climbed out of her cage and scaled the wall leading up to the windowsill. She peered out from the top to see a small orange-yellow shape running towards the house.

"Sandy! Something's weird! Come down here!" a voice that sounded like her brother's hollered at her from below. Knowing that Stan usually didn't get worked up over much, Sandy quickly clutched the vines that ran up the side of her human's house and quickly slid down to meet him.

"Hey! Like, what's the deal?" Sandy said as she leaped off the lowest vine to meet him, a sense of dread forming within her.

"It's Noel! He's totally ignoring me!" Stan said with a hint of frustration in his voice. Sandy was nearly bowled over by the news as soon as it left his mouth.

"…Y-you too?" she asked. Stan, too, was taken aback.

"What?"

"Yes! She just like, didn't even look at me!" Sandy said with her voice beginning to tremble as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

Stan even breathed an exasperated sigh. "I thought it was just me, but like … this is something crazy now! What is going on?"

"I don't know… I just want things to be normal! I hate this!" she replied angrily, wiping a tear from her cheek. Stan put his paws on his sister's shoulders to calm her senses.

"Hey! We'll get through this. We'll figure something out. Let's go talk to Maxwell, that'll make you feel better." He turned her around in the direction of the clubhouse and gave her a little push to get her moving. Even though he too was noticeably distressed he knew he was going to have charge, no matter what kind of thing they were dealing with now.

Upon reaching the entrance, Stan stormed inside to go fetch Maxwell as he was the one who looked the looked the most composed. Sandy sat with her back against the rock-lined entrance and tried to keep her mind off the situation as she waited. A few minutes later he bursted through the door with the tall bookworm in tow. Sandy immediately shot up from her seat to greet them.

"Stan told me everything in the tunnel! That is terrible!" Maxwell said as he ran forward to be by Sandy. "I can't imagine how I would have felt if this happened to me. Luckily I can say that my human was normal last night."

"You mean we're the only ones?" Sandy asked solemnly.

"It seems that way. No one else at the clubhouse mentioned anything like that, and you know they would if something was up. Honestly, I don't have a clue … it's no normal human behavior that I've read about …" Maxwell said, looking towards the ground and holding his paw to his chin in thought.

"And like, it's both of us. Like, maybe I can understand if it's one, but two? This might be something bigger than we think," Stan added.

Maxwell put his paw back down by his side and furrowed his brow. "Think about this, though. You two suddenly became able to talk to humans yesterday, right? And suddenly on the very same day you can't get yours to acknowledge you. Something tells me these are related."

The thought had crossed the twins' minds but neither had really given it a consideration. Had they really messed up that bad? "But why would it just be our humans when we can talk to everyone else? That's stupid!" Stan said hotly.

"Don't ask me, I'm not the expert," Maxwell replied, motioning towards himself.

The three were silent for a moment before anyone spoke up. "Forgive me for even mentioning this, but …" Sandy began, "Do you think we could be dealing with some kind of magic here? Like something supernatural?"

Maxwell usually scoffed at the idea of magic and spells. This time, though, there was just no explanation. He ran a paw behind his ears. "Usually I'd say there's a logical explanation, but in this case there just isn't. I can't even find something remotely scientific that backs this up."

The twins stood by looking rather defeated while Maxwell struggled to tell them something reassuring. No one could come up with anything to say.

"The rest of the ham-hams should like, only be our last resort," Sandy mentioned. "I know everyone is helpful in some cases, but this time I think they'd just be in the way."

"Reminds me of the phrase 'too many cooks in the kitchen', if you know what I mean. And yes, I agree as well," Maxwell said.

"But how can we solve this on our own if we barely have any leads?" Stan asked.

Maxwell turned his head down in thought before coming up with a response. "I think the three of us should all visit Elder Ham again, just in case. Did you find out anything useful from him yesterday?"

"Well … he took us to a new place of his and told us a story, and said he might look into it. You're right, maybe he found something out!" Sandy said, a look of determination returning to her face.

"A new home? Stan, would you be alright if we walked to his place?" He nodded. Though the lazy hamster would normally object to such a long jaunt to Elder Ham's, this was too important for them to simply say no.

"Then it's settled. Let's not tell the ham-hams in case they want to tag along. You two should lead the way, I'm not sure where this place is. Now, let's get moving!"

"Sure thing! Follow us!" Stan said. Both he and Sandy darted off into the direction of the woods without hesitation.

"Hey … hey … wait! I'm not in that great of shape, you two!" Maxwell wheezed, stumbling along behind them and just managing to keep up. Sandy grabbed Maxwell by the wrist and practically dragged him along.

Their keen hamster senses told them exactly where to go, following the trail that had taken them there previously. It wouldn't be quite so out of the way this time as they wouldn't need to stop at Elder Ham's old place, but it was still a good distance. The thick grass was the only thing that would slow them down.

"Watch out for stray branches! Keep your head down!" Sandy said to Maxwell right as he barely dodged a particularly low-hanging stick.

"And mosquitoes, too!" Stan added. Before long, they reached the pond where Elder Ham's cottage sat. The private, secluded location would be perfect for them.

Sandy was first to step forward and knock on the door, making sure to let the old ham know that it was them and not intruders on his front step. "Elder Ham! It's us, the ham-hams! Can we come in?" she asked, pounding on the wooden entrance. Maxwell panted up to the door and leaned a paw against it as he caught his breath.

"Coming, coming!" came a muffled voice from inside. The door creaked open to reveal the short, bearded hamster. "Why, hello again! Miss me already? You're just in time for morning coffee, I've got a pot up and brewing, heh!" he said, quickly combing out his fur as though he wasn't expecting guests.

"Hi Elder Ham! We need to talk to you again!" Sandy said hurriedly, pushing in front of the two boys.

"Oh, why not. Come in, come in," Elder Ham answered, stepping aside to allow the three hamsters inside. "Have a seat at the table, why don't you."

As the three sat down, Elder Ham leisurely poured himself a cup of straight black coffee and was in no hurry to do so. Sandy impatiently tapped her fingers on the table as she waited for him to come join. Maxwell was too busy admiring the old hamster's new home and furnishings to care. A giant, rustic-looking wall of shelves filled with old, dusty books particularly caught his eye.

"Hey, make me a coffee too! With extra cream and sugar!" Stan called out. Sandy shot him a glance from the corner of her eyes as Elder Ham began the slow process all over again. Finally, he joined them at the table.

"Well, now that we're settled, what brings you here again?" Elder Ham asked.

"It's about yesterday. Something new came up," Sandy was first to answer.

"Oh, right. And what happened yesterday again?"

"We could talk to humans…" Stan said, fighting the urge to slap a palm to his forehead.

"Heh heh, I knew that all along!" Elder Ham said teasingly. Stan groaned. "Now, tell me what's going on."

Sandy took the reigns. "It all started last night when we got home. After we left your place and got back to our houses, when our humans got back, they like, didn't even say hello! It was like we didn't even exist. This happened to Stan, too. Maxwell thinks it's related to what happened yesterday at the ranch that caused us to be able to talk to humans and other animals."

Elder Ham scratched his scruffy beard, a stern look appearing on his face. He appeared to glance around the room as he waited for an answer to conjure itself up in his head. "Hmm … well, that is odd, isn't it? I don't remember hearing about that in my story I told you," he said. The ham-hams looked a bit hopeless at this reply.

"Nothing at all? Then why-"

"But hold on just a sec, I didn't even look at any of my old reference books yet. I nearly forgot all about it as soon as you left me last night. Leave me a note today and I'll look into it."

"Good idea," Maxwell said. "I should say here to look as well. Maybe we can find something out. You two should probably go back to the clubhouse so the ham-hams don't suspect anything."

"Great, we came all the way out here just to be told to go back? This is why hamsters need phones!" Stan complained.

"No problem. I think I've got some plans for this afternoon. Stan, come with me," Sandy said. Stan quickly chugged his cup of coffee and stood up from his chair.

"Don't get too worked up over this, you two. We'll work on this," Maxwell reassured. With that, the two twins exited to return to the rest of the ham-hams for the afternoon.

* * *

><p>Back at the clubhouse, everything was relaxed as normal. Each of the ham-hams were up to their usual daily routines, which usually included just talking and playing. Stan and Sandy tried to divert attention from themselves as soon as they walked in the door but it didn't really work.<p>

"Hamha guys! What's up?" Hamtaro was the first to ask in his typical chipper voice.

"Not much, you know," Sandy said.

"Oh yeah? Sleep in today, eh? It's almost eleven o'clock! And I see you two decided to walk to the clubhouse together," Boss said.

"We didn't walk here together!" Stan barked. "We just happened to meet on our way up!"

"I'm sure!" Boss laughed, specifically aiming to irritate him. Sandy jabbed Stan to remind him to calm his nerves. She looked over to see Bijou, Pashmina and Penelope waving at her to come over.

"Sandy, come sit by us! You're just in time for knitting! We just got some new yarn!" Pashmina said. Sandy gladly joined. This would at least keep her mind off the stress. She still planned to go meet Ryan at school which meant they would have to leave the clubhouse shortly after lunch.

The day passed very slowly, with Sandy looking up at the clock every so often. She impatiently counted down the hours before they would leave. The thought of confronting the human made her a bit nervous, but luckily it was someone she was more comfortable with than a total stranger at this point. The worst part would possibly be navigating the school seeing as last time she had gotten herself into the whole mess by getting lost. They would have to allow themselves time to find the right location and be there in time, otherwise they might completely miss their chance. Stan didn't know yet that she planned to bring him with.

Soon, the time rolled around and Sandy knew it was time to get ready to leave. Sandy quietly padded over to her brother and tapped him on the shoulder, silently motioning him to go outside. At first he gave her a quizzical look, but he followed regardless. Without drawing the attention of the rest of the ham-hams who were busy doing other activities they calmly walked out the door.

"Alright, now what?" Stan asked as soon as they were in the tunnel and out of earshot.

"We're going to the high school. Remember that note I got? We have to meet Ryan to see if he knows anything."

"What? You're not serious!" Stan replied.

"I am! We've like, already talked to him at the ranch, it'll be no different now. Trust me," she said.

"Fine, I will. I hope you know what you're doing, sis."

Sandy smirked. "We have to hurry if we want to get there in time and be able to find the locker. I don't have the note on me, but I remember it said '2:30 locker 206 green'. I think we should be able to do that."

They exited out from the tunnel to the clubhouse and squinted their eyes in response to the blinding afternoon sunlight. Sandy led the way to the school with Stan following reluctantly. Again, it was a fairly decent trek to their location. The scenery was all familiar by now as they had just walked to the same location the day before.

As they reached the front of the large building, they paused in front of the thick glass doors. Unlike months ago, they would not be able to form a tower to reach the handicap button to open it for them and they would need to wait for a human to come out. Luckily, it didn't take too long and an oblivious student pushed through, too push heaving his overloaded backpack to notice the two hamsters running inside.

Stan and Sandy immediately ran over to the side by a row of maroon-colored lockers to avoid being caught by anyone. It looked like class was in session so there was not many people in the hallways. Sandy leaned forward to see if she could catch sight of the time. An analog clock hung near the doors across the hall from them, reading 1:55. Sandy grinned, this meant they would hopefully not have to worry about being late.

One positive aspect of the building is that is was all stretched out across one floor, meaning they would have to be climbing to different areas of the school. The second bonus, especially to the hamsters, was the instead of lockers lining the walls on all side of the hallways, there was blocks of sections specifically set aside for lockers. They formed segregated aisles, and though easily accessible from the halls, would aid in keeping them hidden and away from the general traffic.

"We've got lots of time. Let's go find the locker first, and then we can go to the animal room," Sandy said.

"The what?" Stan asked.

"The animal room. Apparently the biology students like, can keep pets there. Maybe we can talk to them."

"How'd you know that?"

"Long story," she finished. Making sure there were no people in sight, the two hamsters darted in and out of the locker bays. The occasional student would pass by but were usually too engrossed in something else, usually texting. Stan and Sandy witnessed one student getting their phone taken away by an irate staff member, leaving the student to finish walking to their destination looking rather irritated.

"Look! There lockers here are green! Maybe this is what the note means," Stan pointed out. Sandy stopped with him and stared up.

"You're right! Like, I bet one of these says 206," Sandy said. They made their way up and down the rows of lockers until Sandy finally stopped in her tracks. "Like, right here! That was totally easy." She pointed up towards the number by the latch. They were impressed at how quickly they had found it.

"Now what? Where was that room you were talking about?" Stan asked.

"Lemme show you. They have all kinds of animals in there," Sandy said, leading the way. Even Stan was curious about what the other animals had to say. Thankfully it wasn't too far from they were at so they wouldn't be forced to walk another marathon. This time they had to hide away in corners and under anything they could find to avoid being seen as there were no lockers in the direction they were headed.

Sandy paused in front of the door. "Right here. We can slip under this crack," she said, ducking down to point out the space between the door and the ground. She nimbly squeezed underneath followed by her big brother to gain access to the next room. What they found wasn't exactly what they were expecting.

"Wow, some room. Where are all the animals?" Stan said, his bright green eyes scanning the room. It was a stark contrast from when Sandy had seen it previously. The white room was neatly cleaned and organized, the floor swept of debris, and hardly a single occupied cage or tank to be found. In fact, the room appeared to be completely void of any living creatures at all, save for themselves. Sandy glanced around as well and sighed, her ears dropping to the sides of her head.

"This is like, not what I remember…" she said disheartenedly. "I swear, there used to be tons of cool animals in here! Like other hamsters, and newts and stuff!"

"Sure, I believe you," Stan said, sounding a bit cynical.

Though Sandy was obviously disappointed, she tried to keep her spirits up. "I bet it's just cleaned up because school is ending. Let's go check on top of the counter to see if anything cool got left behind." That was something the male tiger-striped hamster could get behind, and quickly followed his sister up the side of the table. Upon reaching the top, nothing else looked new. It had all been wiped and cleaned, save for a single tank that appeared void of life. However, it still contained the tropical terrarium setup for the creature it had once contained.

"Well this was fun," Stan said, casually walking towards the tank which was the most interesting thing on the counter. Sandy strolled up behind him.

"Well, like, sorry to disappoint, bro," she said exasperatedly.

Stan examined the tank with lidded eyes, sighing with boredom. Sandy inspected it briefly, returning to the edge of the table to get ready to jump down. "Are you coming? Let's just wait by the locker."

Instead of receiving an answer, she heard a curt girlish shriek from her brother. "There's … there's something in here!" Sandy hurriedly ran by his side to see what had caused him such a commotion. She flinched slightly upon seeing what was inside. A brilliant emerald gecko had pressed its face right against the glass where Stan was looking, its bright brown eyes wide with interest. It casually ran its thick pink tongue across one of its eyeballs, causing the tiger-striped ham to stumble back in disgust.

"Agh! Lizards are gross!" he said, curling up his lip. Sandy, however, could see the poor fellow looked as though he wanted to get out. The gecko knocked gently against the glass and pointed up. Sandy glanced around the area to find something to climb on top of the tank with, and found a box of tissues nearby that she could push up to the edge.

"Sis, what are you doing?" Stan asked. "You better not be letting it out!"

"And what if I am? Why not help someone in need?" she replied.

"We don't even know if he's vicious! Lizards are like, little dinosaurs you know!" One look at the innocent gecko made it clear that Stan was probably greatly exaggerating.

On top of the tank, Sandy scanned the surface to find anything that was blocking the door from being opened. A single latch kept the door in place. A simple yank released the handle and allowed the door to be opened easily from the inside. She jumped down and watched as the gecko effortlessly scaled the glass wall and nudged open the lid with its nose. It made a quick jump down towards the twins who stepped back in caution. Standing fully upright it was almost the same height as Boss, which meant it easily dwarfed the two hamsters.

"Hey, listen sonny! Just because we let you go doesn't mean you can come near us," Stan growled, stepping in front of his sister and positioning himself to be ready to defend her. His wide stance and bristled fur made the gecko have second thoughts about coming any closer.

"Sonny? No one's ever called me that before," the gecko said, surprising the twins, who weren't expecting it to speak. "In fact, I never had a name at all. You can call me that if you want," it said, rubbing its leathery hand behind its head sheepishly. "Since when can hamsters talk?"

Sandy pushed her brother aside, ignoring the last question. "You … you've never had a name? Didn't you have a human?"

"Well, I did, but I barely ever saw him. He was a nice brown-haired boy who kept me well fed and misted whenever he stopped by. But he moved away midway through the school year … I've been kind of a foster pet ever since." He fiddled with his fingers in front of his stomach as he talked.

"That's terrible! Is that why you're like, still here?" Sandy asked sincerely.

"Yeah! Ever since summer started coming up I've been watching everyone take their pets home and cleaning up. But here I am! No one wants to claim me. If I don't find a place soon, I don't know what will happen!" the gecko said, making exaggerated motions with his hands.

Stan and Sandy listened to the helpless plea of the forgotten lizard. He seemed genuine - there was almost no threatening quality to any part of him. He had no claws, teeth so small they could barely be seen, and an overall soft, delicate appearance even with the presence of scales. And he was wonderfully colorful - the vivid green hide was lined with bright red stripes, as well as thick stripes covering the round eyes on both sides of his head giving him the appearance of sporting warpaint. The gecko's chubby, round tail swished about as he waited eagerly for a response.

Sandy glanced over at her brother with a devious smirk as he shook his head as if to say "no way". Sandy, always the more welcoming and friendly of the two, turned back towards the expectant gecko.

"Tell you what … you can follow us and we can help you find a human. But like, we're not even sure if we have a place to stay yet," she said. The gecko smiled as Stan held his face in his paws. "But first you'll have to wait here. We've got some business to take care of with somebody. We'll be back hopefully within a half hour if you can wait."

"Yeah! I've gotten used to all this waiting, what's another half-hour? Go do your something!" the gecko said cheerfully, waving goodbye to them. Stan and Sandy slid down the counter and quickly slipped back under the door to the hallway outside.

"Sis! I can't believe you just like, invited that dude to come with us! We don't even know him! Who does that?" Stan asked with frustration. "And he's not even a hamster! We don't know what those other guys can be like!" The two padded down the empty hallway back in the direction of the green locker bay.

"Oh, cool it. Just because he's not a hamster doesn't mean he's a bad guy. Wouldn't you want someone to help you if you were in that situation?" she replied.

"Like I would ever even be in a situation where I didn't have a human?" Suddenly, the realization struck both of them that the gecko's situation hit closer to home than they first expected. If what the hamsters had encountered last night were to last, it would mean that neither of them would have a place to stay if it meant they didn't have access to food or water. Boss would be able to take them in, but they didn't want more hams getting involved. He was strictly a last resort. Both the twins' shoulders slumped as they continued their march down the hall, neither wanting to comment on the issue any further.

They sat in front of the green locker 206 without saying another word to each other. They now simply had to wait until the human arrived. Sandy crossed her arms and leaned against the concrete foundation that held up the lockers. The units themselves hung slightly over their base, providing the hamsters just enough cover to avoid any wandering eyes. The only sound audible was a single ticking clock a ways down the hall. Every once in a while a set of footsteps walked by, but it was too early for them to be the human they were looking for.

"What if he's not coming?" Stan whispered.

"Shh!" Sandy held a paw to his mouth. Soon, a shadow appeared at the end of the lockers and advanced in their direction. The footsteps stopped directly in front of them. Sandy craned her neck up. It was the red-haired boy, right on time. He made quick eye contact to acknowledge them and adjusted his slate gray shirt, then made it look as though he was grabbing something out of his locker to dodge any suspicious glances. He knelt down and unzipped the pouch on his backpack to pull something out, and conveniently shifted to block the view of anyone looking in from the hallway.

"…You made it, I see," Ryan whispered, feeling apprehensive about talking to a pair of hamsters but forcing himself to do so.

"…Yeah. How are things for you?" Sandy asked. She still wasn't used to the idea of talking to a human. She stood up straight as she spoke

"Well, I can understand my dog, which is weird enough … not much else though," he said, looking over his shoulder out of caution. "I'm surprised you two found your way here."

"You'd be surprised about a lot of things, bud," Stan said, glaring up at him. Ryan gave an unsure look at Stan before returning to Sandy.

"We can understand other animals too, but for some reason our humans can't hear us, it's like we disappeared off the face of the earth!" Sandy said. The phrase "our humans" sounded so strange to him.

"I haven't had any problems," Ryan said. "So did they feed you or anything?"

"No, I ate what I had left but she didn't give me any more. Usually she leaves out food at least once a day, it's just not like her," she said. "We like, don't even know what to do now."

Ryan's cobalt blue eyes scanned their surroundings to make sure there weren't any people nearby again. "I guess I don't know what I can do for you two…" he said. Sandy's ears drooped limply. She had hoped the human could provide them with some kind of insight, but this meeting was really leading nowhere. Their only hope would likely be Maxwell and Elder Ham scouring through countless books for answers, and even that was iffy. "…But hey, tell you what. I move into an apartment on the 1st of June. That's tomorrow. Maybe you two can … well, stay there while things get sorted out." He sort of cringed at himself for the last offer, not knowing what he would be getting himself into.

Sandy's spirits picked up. "You mean it?" Stan gave her a dubious look, but it appeared that they would at least be able to be taken care of for the time being.

"Don't you think we should think this out first, sis?" Stan asked.

"That's right … first, we should make sure it's certain that our humans don't know we're there so that they don't notice us missing. I'd hate to stress out Hillary," she said, furrowing her brow and holding a paw up to her cheek.

"We could stay at Elder Ham's, too," Stan said, raising a logical point. They considered it for a moment.

"That's a totally good idea … but remember, Elder Ham wanted to like, show the place off to the ham-hams, and sometimes they like to stop by and make unexpected visits. If they saw our stuff there, they'd know something's up," Sandy said.

"Oh, right …"

"That's fine. You guys do your thing," Ryan said. He glimpsed over his shoulder again. "If it doesn't work out, meet at my house tomorrow. Do you remember where it's at from when you stayed there?"

"Yeah, it's down the street a ways from my human's house," Sandy said.

He leaned in, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Good. At about one o'clock I'm gonna start moving things over to my place. Either find me or I'll leave my passenger door open for you to jump in. It's the silver car." Sandy didn't want to admit that she already knew what he drove.

"No probs. We'll be there," Stan said confidently.

Ryan took one final look at the clock. "Class gets out in about 20 minutes, the schedule is weird today because of finals. Be careful on your way out." The two nodded. With that, he picked up his things and ended the brief meeting. He quietly shut his locker and strode out towards the hallway. The two hamsters were left to work things out from there.

"Well that's settled," Sandy said. "I'd personally prefer if things would just go back to normal and we could just be with our own humans, but this could work too."

"Yeah, no kidding. Why does this have to happen on top of being able to talk to animals suddenly?" her brother replied. Sandy shrugged.

"Either way, remember we still have to go like, meet that gecko. We can't just leave him hanging."

"Oh, that's right!" Stan exclaimed, having already forgotten. "Can't we just like, leave without him? We'll never even see him again. We don't even know what to do with him. What if that Ryan kid is allergic to lizards?"

"No, silly, we can't just do that. It'd be mean. Besides, Ryan had a newt for class so I'm sure he would mind another creepy-crawly thing. It'll only be temporary," she said, waving off her brother. He followed in her step back to the animal room where they had found their stray reptile. They slipped under the door and immediately saw the bright green gecko laying on the counter.

"Hi! I missed ya," he called out merrily.

"What are you doing? What if a human came in here?" Stan scolded him.

"Why would they? There's nothing else in here," he answered. He skittered towards the ledge and jumped down with a plop. "So, what's the plan?"

Neither of the hamsters had really thought of what to do with him for the rest of the day, so Sandy quickly made up something on the spot. "You can follow us. We'll plan something fun to do tonight, and we'll find you a home in no time. We're gonna go before class gets out though, okay?"

"Gotcha," he replied. The two hamsters snuck under the door once more, followed shortly by the gecko who got stuck momentarily. The twins had to grab his hands and heave to get him out before going any further. Without further ado, they marched back to the front doors with the tiger-striped hamsters leading the way

"Be careful not to be seen, okay?" Stan reminded the absentminded gecko who was practically walking in the middle of the hallway. "You're kind of like a green and red traffic cone, dude."

"Oh, okay!" He scampered back by the wall.

Stan leaned in towards Sandy as they walked, looking back to make sure the lizard wasn't listening. "You sure it was a good idea to drag him with us? He seems kinda … I dunno, weird," he whispered.

Sandy gave him a cold glare, her jade green eyes flashing him a warning. "Maybe you should stop, like, being so apprehensive about everything. Give him a chance." Stan's mouth curved into a stern frown in response.

The female twin was ready to learn more about the gecko, who was still practically a total stranger to them. She wanted to make them feel more inviting as opposed to Stan who just wanted him out of their paws. "So, what should we call you?" she said, turning around and walking backwards to talk to him.

"Me? Oh, I dunno. That guy called me Sonny earlier, I guess that would work," he said, pointing a padded finger towards Stan.

"If that's alright with you," Sandy said, watching as the gecko motioned his approval. "Then it's settled. Sonny is your new name!" She felt a bit honored having officially just named a living being, something she had never done before.

"Also, we should probably tell you our names too. I'm Stan, and she's Sandy. We're identical twins," Stan interrupted to explain, though he still wasn't ready to open up to the newcomer.

"Neat. I can remember that," Sonny said, still admiring his new name.

"And what kind of lizard are you?" Sandy asked.

"Oh, I'm a Giant Day Gecko," he said, holding his arms up to pose for them. "I'm native to Madagascar. I know all about my kind, so don't be afraid to ask."

Stan's eyes widened as he heard the gecko name his species. "Did you say … _giant _day gecko? As in, godzilla-sized? I mean, that'd be totally rad but …" He pictured a titanic reptile rampaging through downtown Tokyo in his head, blasting down planes and buildings with its atomic fire breath.

"Who's that? But nah, I'm almost full sized already," he said, allowing both the twins a sigh of relief.

The trio move onwards, mostly keeping to themselves outside the idle chatter between Stan and Sandy. Occasionally they would toss a glance back at Sonny, who was busy spinning his head in every direction to observe his surroundings and fiddling with his hands in front of his chest. It did not take them long to reach the tall glass doors once again. They stopped on the scratchy gray rug positioned in front of the exit. There was no students in sight to let them out this time, so they would either have to wait or find another way.

"Any bright ideas?" Sandy asked.

"None from me, unless you can find a way up to reach that button like we pressed that one time," Stan said, pointing up to a round, metal button with a blue symbol on it. It looked futile, though, for there were no surfaces for them to grab onto if they were to attempt the climb.

Sonny stopped daydreaming and turned his head up towards the silvery object. "You need to press that? Here, let me try." Without another word, he nonchalantly approached the smooth wall and pressed his hands against it. Stan and Sandy's mouths were held agape as they watched the gecko effortlessly scale the surface, seeming to almost defy gravity. With a quick slap, he triggered the automatic door and jumped down in time to get out of the building with the two hamsters.

They scampered to the edge of the sidewalk and into the grass. "Whoa, how did you do that?" Sandy asked.

"Don't ask me how they work, I just happen to have these things," Sonny said, pointing his hands forward and opening and closing them like a duck bill.

"Why can't hamsters have anything cool like that?" Stan complained, crossing his arms. "No claws, no fangs, no wings …" They continued onwards away from the school. The twins walked side-by-side as Sonny amused himself with his own hand pads, repeatedly sticking them together and pulling them apart.

As soon as they reached the sidewalk closest to the street, they paused. "We should go check on our humans," Sandy said. A feeling in her gut told her nothing would come out of it, but she had to stay loyal to her owner. "You too, Stan."

"What is Sonny gonna do?" her brother questioned.

"He can come with me," she volunteered, knowing her brother would not be keen on letting the eccentric stranger tag along. The gecko turned his beady eyes towards the female twin. "Look. If nothing has changed from last night or this morning to today, you can meet back over here and we can like, spend the night here. We should be able to last until tomorrow."

Stan agreed. "I'd better get going if I want to get home, then. I'll see you around," Stan said, waving goodbye towards his sister as he darted off and leaving her with the lizard.

Sandy looked back towards her guest. "Follow me, I'll show you where my human lives!" The gecko obediently followed.

The worry that had enveloped her last night and this morning steadily returned as she approached closer to home. Being away from it all had kind of kept her mind off of it, but now the familiar sights were causing it all to return again. She felt sick at the thought, the idea that her human suddenly didn't even know she was there. It was like something died inside the tiger-striped hamster, and it was taking a toll on her already. Ryan, however, had made a fine caretaker in the past and would get the job done once more. Sandy held back a lump in her throat and concentrated on running. As another issue, she wasn't even sure if this "affliction" affected only Hillary or what, but it would be safe to assume that she might be able to see the gecko. Therefore, he would have to remain well out of sight when they got to her home.

Finally, they reached the bottom of the small two-story house. Sandy glanced over at her acquaintance. "Sonny, I need you to stay here for like, just a few minutes. I'll be right back, okay?" He nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

Sandy began her climb up the tall vines leading to her bedroom window. The trip home was a long enough haul that Hillary was home by now, which worked out well for her hamster. She reached the top and climbed over the sun-bleached ledge onto the sill, where she lifted up the window pane with all her strength. Sandy wasted no time in honing towards the exact position of her human. She kept a small glimmer of hope inside her that things would return to normal, the determination flashing brightly in her emerald eyes.

There was Hillary, standing right at the counter in the kitchen. Sandy wasted no time and ignored her usual hamster instinct. She swiftly climbed the table and eyed her owner. It was all or nothing.

Sandy ran out directly in front of her human and skidded to a halt, presenting herself as clear as day as she held her arms out. Seconds passed, and the hamster felt her heart thudding in her chest. Nothing, not even the slightest acknowledgement came. She felt the dark, gloomy cloud rapidly reappearing over herself. She knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.

With her head hung low, Sandy dragged herself to the edge of the counter and jumped off. With once final look back, she whispered a temporary farewell to her owner. _"I'm so sorry…"_ she said, the sadness nearly dripping off of her words. She felt terribly guilty, like she was abandoning someone close to her. Without further ado, she exited out a window on the first floor.

Sonny was laying in the grass by the side of the house and perked up his head as soon as she returned. "Hi! So what's the plan?" he asked with enthusiasm. Sandy glared at him through narrowed eyes, intensely irritated by the gleeful demeanor of the oblivious gecko. He propped up his head with both hands and kicked his legs in the air.

"Don't ask. It's … it's none of your business!" Sandy sneered, facing away. Sonny, sensing her sudden tension, forced a frown and let his limbs fall into the grass. She heard him breath a sigh through his nose. Suddenly, she felt bad about pushing her troubles onto him. If only she could be as carefree…

"Sorry. I like, didn't mean to snap at you," she apologized, "I'm just having a rough day. It's not because of you though, I promise. My brother will probably be back here in a while. Let's just take a nap or something, shall we?" Sandy curled into a ball, wrapping some grass around her. She already missed the comfort of her bedding. It was these kinds of thoughts that she needed to get out of her mind before they depressed her even more.

"So, can I come into your house now?" Sonny asked, picking himself up. Sandy shook her head.

"No we're going to have like ... a campout, instead."

"Oh, for fun! But I didn't even bring any snacks. I need to go find some mealworms. Do you think you can roast mealworms...?" Sonny trailed off, talking to himself as Sandy ignored him. She was too tired to listen any longer.

The gecko quit babbling as soon as he realized his audience wasn't paying attention. Sandy simply rested her head against the large oak tree. Tired from the day's events, she fell asleep before too long.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Sandy was awoken by a voice above her head. "Stan?"<p>

"Yeah, it's me. Wake up, guys," he said. "Nothing worked for me over there, not a single thing. Such a bummer."

"Same," Sandy said groggily. "Looks like we'll be staying with Ryan after all."

"Hey! Stan! We're having a campout! Come sit!" Sonny called out to the bewildered hamster as he patted the ground near where he sat. Stan had no wish to be that close to him.

"So we're staying out here tonight? Is that the plan?" Stan asked, looking up at the sun which was beginning its descent below the treeline and giving the world around them an ambient orange glow. They could hear the insect activity picking up as night grew closer.

"Yeah, I guess. We can like, sleep under this tree here. I just slept for the past few hours so I'm not really that tired now. I might stay up and practice my ribbon twirling a little."

"Whatever spins your wheels. I'm going to bed right now," Stan said, yawning. "I brought a bag of my stuff over here so I'm pretty much set. Got my maracas and my swag, that's all that matters." Sandy rolled her eyes at the last statement.

Sandy rolled her eyes watched the two boys for a moment before they drifted off into slumber. Just then, she remembered Maxwell and Elder Ham. She had nearly forgotten that they spent the day looking for answers. It was too bad she didn't have a way to easily connect to Maxwell and ask if they had found any leads. More than likely, she would speak to the two tomorrow. She didn't get her hopes up though - if they had really found something outstanding, they would have surely found her immediately.

The tiger-striped hamster picked up the stick of her ribbon and twirled it in her hands, ready to dance in the evening glow. She had gained some things, she had lost some others, but at least one of those was not her most precious belonging. She sighed and let her body free to express itself, hoping for the coming day to provide them some answers.

* * *

><p>In the middle of the night, a single black crow perched on a branch of a large tree a few meters away from the sleeping trio. Silently, unwavering, it watched. The only motion from the hamsters was the steady rise and fall of their chests, peacefully unaware of their surroundings. A glint of the yellow streetlight flashed in the crow's eyes. Like a ghost, it outstretched its dark, glossy wings and departed into the night as if nothing more than an illusion.<p> 


	5. Black Panther

Chapter 5

* * *

><p>Sandy squinted her eyes in the morning light. She had almost forgotten they had fallen asleep outside. Her fur felt damp from the beads of dew on the cool grass she had slept in. She picked herself up and stretched.<p>

She heard a car door slam. "Hillary!" she remembered. Her human was already leaving for work. She clumsily dashed to the corner of the house only to listen to the familiar sound of the engine starting. It was too late, she was leaving. Sandy exhaled sharply, pain wrenching her heart. It bothered her knowing that her human didn't even seem the least bit upset that she was missing.

"Yo, where did you think you were going?" Stan called out. Sandy reluctantly returned to the two boys who were just waking up.

"Nowhere," she said sheepishly. It was already "D-Day", the day that they were moving out, so to speak. Then again, it had only been decided barely yesterday.

"Uh-huh," he said sarcastically. Stan rolled around in the lush grass for a few moments, trying to get himself to wake up.

The gecko stood up, not a hint of sleepiness in his eyes at all. Sandy wondered how a thing could have such boundless energy. "So, what's the plan for today?" he asked, yawning wide enough to practically fit a golf ball down his throat.

"We haven't been to the clubhouse very much the last few days, think they'll miss us if we skip?" Stan asked. "I mean, I don't mind. I can catch up on my daily dose of babes another day."

"I think they'll totally understand. They know our humans like to take us places and that we're busy a lot, you know?" Sandy said.

"You have a clubhouse too? Can I come visit?" The gecko asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

"NO!" both the twins answered almost immediately as the words left Sonny's mouth.

"I mean, not today. They're busy doing stuff. _Boring_ stuff. Like, paperwork and junk," Sandy said, quite obviously lying, but the lizard was so gullible that she wasn't even concerned about how truthful she sounded.

"Oh," Sonny said simply. "Is it like a business club?"

She ignored his question. "We're going to a friend of ours today, a human. He'll um … he'll find you a home, alright?" She gave him an awkward smile.

The corners of Sonny's mouth drew into a perky grin. "Awesome!"

"Like, what time did that Ryan person say, one o'clock?" Stan asked, bringing the conversation back to the real plan for the day.

"Right," his sister answered. "Hillary starts work at like nine and she just left, so we have the whole morning to kill. It's like, too far to get to Elder Ham's and back in time so we might as well get comfortable."

"Then what am I doing awake? I'm going back to sleep for a few hours," Stan said, curling back up into his neatly crafted nest of grass and facing away from Sandy.

"Have it your way, bro," she said. "I'm gonna get some seeds out of my room and pack a little bag. I'll be right back. Sonny, behave yourself." He saluted.

"Kay, have fun. Wake me up when we leave," Stan mumbled. Sonny got up and positioned himself perfectly in a single ray of sunlight peeking through the swaying leaves of the giant oak tree. Sandy, in the meantime, began her ascent up in what might have been her last visit to her room in a while.

* * *

><p>The dysfunctional trio found themselves walking down the road to Ryan's house later that afternoon. Sandy led the way as she was the expert in this situation. It didn't take long for them to pick out the silver car in the driveway up the sidewalk, itself being surrounded by large cardboard boxes. Also coming into view as they approached was Ryan himself, who was trying to fit as much as he could into his relatively small car. Two adults who they assumed could be his parents were carrying out some furniture. His rottweiler stood by, idly watching its humans at work.<p>

"There! Hide over here!" Sandy said, pointing out some bushy daylilies on the far side of the house that would keep them covered for the time being. They watched as the humans worked on loading everything up.

"There ya go, Rhyno," said his father, a similarly red-haired, moustached older man. Ryan blushed in embarrassment upon hearing his childhood nickname. "Got everything now?"

"Thanks guys. Yeah, my room is totally bare," the boy replied. "I just need my fish. I gotta hurry and get my tank set up." The fish themselves were in a clear storage bin, the 15-gallon aquarium in the back seat of his car.

"And don't forget Roscoe," his mother said. The dog's ears perked up.

"You're gonna have the fish and the dog? Might as well open a pet store while you're at it," his dad said jokingly.

"Yeah … no kidding," Ryan said, remembering the two (now three) other guests that would be staying with him. "Do you think you could take Roscoe with you? He might be too rowdy with my fish in the car." It wasn't his fish he was concerned about the dog bothering, it was the hamsters.

"Sure, I'll stick him up in the front seat of my pickup. Roscoe! Do you want to go for a ride?" his dad said with his hands on his knees. The dog, who had known something was up, excitedly whirled in a quick circle and instantly leaped to the car door. He gave an impatient glance back at his humans while his tail wagged so hard his entire rump was moving along with it.

Ryan picked up the bin of fish and carefully balanced it on his knee as he opened the passenger side. He secured it in place on the seat. He then looked behind him, scanning the ground for the ones who were supposed to be joining him.

"That's our cue! C'mon!" Sandy said, dragging the two boys along with her. They darted to the base of the car. Ryan, upon seeing the bright green addition to the crew, gave them a bit of a look that said "what?" With his parents not looking, he allowed them into his vehicle, propping up his foot halfway between the cement and the floor of the car to allow them somewhat of a step to get up. The trio leaped inside and the door shut behind them.

"I'm set. I'll show you the way," Ryan called out to his parents.

"Okay. Don't go too fast, remember we've got the furniture back here," his dad said, pointing his thumb to the bed of the truck.

Ryan climbed in and collapsed into the driver's seat. "So, who's the new guy?" he asked almost immediately as he started his car. The twins and Sonny climbed up onto the division between the two seats.

"This is Sonny," Stan answered before his sister could. "We kind of found him by accident when we were at school. He didn't have a human, so he asked to come with us and my _sister_ said 'sure'." Sandy winced as he emphasized her name.

"I hope you're not mad," she said guiltily.

"No, I'm not … sorry if it seems that way today, it's just been a long morning already," Ryan replied, not taking his eyes off the road as he turned out of the driveway.

"Hey! I remember you!" Sonny chimed in. "You were that human with the newt!"

Ryan looked at the gecko out of the corner of his eyes. "Yeah, that was me. I remember you, too. Everyone thought you were awesome, by the way." Sonny silently gave himself a mini fist pump.

"Cool! Oh … but … why didn't anyone want me, then?" he asked, looking uncharacteristically glum.

The human shrugged his shoulders and was quiet for a moment. "I couldn't tell you. Not many parents like the idea of having a lizard or a snake or anything though, so maybe no one was allowed to bring you home. It's tough, but it's the truth." It was a little hard on the gecko, but he picked himself up in no time.

"What happened to your newt?" Sandy asked.

"Oh, yeah … I was going to put him in my aquarium, but I couldn't really have him with fish. One of my friends actually offered to take him."

"That's just like me, kind of," Stan said. "Since we're twins, we used to both have the same human. She ended up having to give me to one of her own friends, and my sis and I didn't see each other for a long time."

Ryan still found himself impressed at how perceptive and smart the little animals seemed to be. "Was that hard on you?" he asked, suddenly feeling guilty about his own newt.

"Sort of … I missed my sis and I missed my human, but eventually they faded away from my thoughts. When our friends helped us find each other though, we were totally cool again! And now everything's back to normal." He gave a shake of his maracas.

"I don't know if I'd say normal …" Sandy added.

"That's good. Sad, though," Ryan said. "Say, what was your name, little guy?" he asked, looking at the gecko.

"Oh, me? Sonny. These two named me yesterday," he said proudly.

"I was just gonna say. I don't remember you ever having a name," he said. "So we've got Stan, Sandy and Sonny, the three S's, and Ryan and Roscoe, the two R's. Oh, my dog's staying with us too, by the way, we're lucky my apartment allows pets."

Stan looked unsure while Sonny just gave his usual blank stare, but Sandy knew the dog was no harm. "Yeah, we don't mind."

"Good. We're gonna be pulling in pretty soon, you guys better go back under the seat." The three followed obediently as Ryan put a stiff hand onto his tub of fish to keep it from splashing about. They felt the car slow down.

Finally, they parked, and Ryan opened his door and got out. His parents joined alongside in their pickup truck.

"I'm gonna go get my room key. Mine's room 211. You guys can start moving stuff upstairs if you want," Ryan said to his parents. The apartment itself was a decent-looking three-story building with tan siding and chestnut brown brick accents, surrounded by tall deciduous trees which gave the neighborhood a more aged look. Ryan went off to go find the main office, intentionally leaving the passenger door open for the hamsters.

"Hey, let's get out of here while we can!" Stan said to the two others. They jumped out and ducked under some landscaping bushes in front of the building as they waited for the humans to get everything taken care of. The boy's parents slowly began moving his things out of their cars and inside.

The moving part was an all-afternoon event, and the three small guests watched the humans struggling to move the heavier items inside. For the most part, they relaxed in the shade for the hottest part of the day while the hamster twins tuned out Sonny's constant chattering.

They bounded up the stairs to room 211 and quietly snuck under the door. Ryan was unpacking things for the kitchen and was talking with his parents. Roscoe was already inside and curled up on the couch.

"No, really, I'll be fine, I swear!" he told his mother, who looked concerned about her oldest son moving out for college.

"Do you need us to help out with anything else?" his dad asked, looking around the place and pulling on his moustache.

"No, I think I can get it," Ryan said.

"Sounds good. Your brother's got a baseball tournament that we'd better hurry over to before it's too late. If you need anything, just give us a call." He hugged his parents and said his goodbyes as they made their final exit through the door.

"See you around!" he said. He stood with his hands at the counter for a few moments, just gathering himself up, before gradually resuming his unpacking.

The two hamsters peeked around the corner, followed shortly by the lizard. "Hey, you didn't forget about us, did you?" Ryan looked down at them, momentarily startled, as he didn't even know they had gotten inside.

"No," he said, not saying another word to them. Sandy noted that he didn't seem himself. Though he was trying his best to hide it, he really was a little upset by moving out. After living with him a few weeks earlier in the year, she had begun to pick up on the little things. He was usually not a man of many words to begin with. Stan smirked, looking ready to toss out a derisive comment at him before Sandy quickly caught him and slapped a hand to his mouth.

Sonny simply swiveled his head around and admired the new living space. "Cool place you got!" It was a simple 1-bedroom apartment, but it would be enough for them. It was essentially divided into two halves - one being the kitchen and living room and the other being the bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen was immediately to the right as one walked into the apartment, where they were currently situated. A large window faced the outside next to the couch and TV, allowing a natural, warm glow into the room. It was the only thing illuminating the otherwise dark space. The leafy trees could be seen swaying just past the glass.

"If you don't mind me asking, like, where are we at?" Sandy questioned.

"Like, neighborhood-wise? We're in a bit of the older part of town. Rent was cheaper," he said, not making eye contact with the rest of the group as he continued putting things away.

"I think I know where the clubhouse is at from here. A little further than we're used to, but not that bad," she said.

"The clubhouse?" Ryan asked, pausing for a moment. "What's that?" he said, wondering if hamsters formed some kind of secret, hidden gang that people didn't know about.

Sandy took in a deep breath, realizing she probably should have kept her mouth shut. "It's … it's like, just a place where us and our friends go to meet up during the day, when our humans are gone. It gives us something to do, you know? We're called the ham-hams." Stan glared at his sister for spilling their secrets so carelessly.

"Huh. I always wondered what you guys did during the day," he said.

"You mean … you're not surprised or anything?" Stan asked. "Humans are so oblivious to everything!"

Ryan furrowed his brow at the comment, shooting them a glance from his icy blue eyes. "Not really. When you can talk to animals all of a sudden I guess nothing seems weird anymore, to be honest."

"Us hams are always taught not to be seen and stuff. We're pretty good at it, too," he said, giving a confident shake of his maracas.

"It makes things easier on us when we go on adventures and stuff," Sandy added.

"Great," the human said. Sandy could tell he was not in the mood for talking much longer as he finished unpacking the kitchen. They still practically felt like strangers to one another, being forced together by circumstance. It was probably going to be hard for Ryan to have to watch over not one, not two, but nearly four pets who were now dependent on him. On top of that, he was already clearly stressed out from the move. Sandy decided it would be best if they kept out of his business for the time being while he recovered from the strain of relocating.

"Hey, Ryan, I think we might go exploring. We're just going outside and around to check things out, okay?"

"We are?" Stan whispered before his sister kicked him in the shin to shut him up. The human didn't see that part.

He looked over his shoulder and nodded, and stood back up from his hunched over position from putting away pans to stretch his back. He put his hands up to his reddened face and slowly ran them back through his hair. There was an air conditioner mounted in the wall, but it hadn't been turned on yet. "Fine by me. I'm hot and I'm tired, so I might be sleeping when you get back."

"Bye!" Sonny called out gleefully before Sandy could push the two boys out the slightly propped open door. Just as she was about to join them in the hallway, she stopped and whipped around upon hearing Ryan's voice.

"…Sandy," he said softly, standing up straight and facing the sink, not turning his eyes in her direction. "Sorry if I sound irritated at all. It's not you guys, I swear. It's just a lot to take in these past few days." She looked back, and Stan and Sonny weren't paying attention. She knew the human was being sincere as he was usually so laid-back when she had been around him, and there wasn't much that could ruffle his feathers. A tired sigh escaped his lips.

"Like, I understand. We'll try to stay out of your business. We've got a lot on our plate, too," Sandy said.

"Bye."

She let him resume his work and quietly pulled the door shut behind her. The hallway was dimly lit, with the wallpaper looking as though it had seen better days. The apartment itself was fine, but they already missed their old homes with the exception of Sonny, who loved the place as he loved everything.

"So where are we going now?" Stan asked, spinning a maraca in his paw.

"Let's race down the hall!" Sonny exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

"Hah, you think you can outrun a hamster? I don't think so, lizard-boy! You'd trip over your own tail!" Stan boasted with a determined look in his eyes, pointing a bright green maraca in the gecko's direction. Sonny wasn't even the least bit bothered by his words.

"If you do race, like, please beat my brother. That is all," Sandy said.

Stan scoffed at her. "Some support! I'll show you both. Start at the edge of the door. We'll race to the other end." Stan squeezed his head under the door to find a safe place to set his maracas down. The two lined up as Sandy stood along the sidelines to watch. She rested with her paws behind her back against the wall.

"Here, I'll count you down. On three …" she began. Stan dug his back paws into the thin carpet and prepared for an all-out sprint. He was flat-out determined to win, even if it only meant proving himself to his sister and a lizard who didn't care.

"Two … one …" she said, beginning to grin. It was fun watching her brother get worked up. "GO!"

Stan bolted out from the starting line, running as fast as his tiny legs could carry him. He knew he had taken off way faster than the gecko, as he quickly glanced back and he was nowhere in sight. His pure speed alone caused his fur to fly backwards as though he was in a wind tunnel, approaching what felt like it could have been mach 1.

With the finish line already in sight, the drab wall at the end of the hallway calling out to him, Stan shouted back "Ha! I've already got you beat! I …" He didn't have time to finish before looking up and seeing a flamboyant, neon green blur approaching fast from above.

"!"

The slender gecko was running across the wall perpendicular to the floor, gliding along expertly with nimble feet and keeping in perfect sync with Stan. A look of intense focus could be seen in his round brown eyes, something they had never witnessed before in the happy-go-lucky reptile. The hamster was so caught off-guard that he nearly broke his sprint. As though it had been rehearsed, Sonny lined up perfectly with the tiger-striped hamboy and silently pushed away from the wall, spreading his limbs like a flying squirrel and aiming his landing straight at his opponent.

_"Ehh!"_

Stan didn't have time to dodge the air strike before the gecko crashed into him with a _thoomp_. All that could be seen from Sandy's angle was a clash of lime green and orange as the two tumbled down the hall with the appearance of two cars that had just been involved in a high-speed collision. Limbs could be seen flailing in every direction in the chaotic scene while Stan could be heard screaming through the whole ordeal.

Just as they were about to make impact with the rear wall, Sonny detached himself from the jumbled mess of fur and scales and launched himself right at the finish. He smacked the wall with both hands a mere fraction of a second before Stan careened into it.

"Woo! Good race, huh?" Sonny said to an unresponsive Stan, the expression on his face returning to its usual jolly image. Sandy was seen bounding down the hallway to catch up to the two, who could barely even hold herself up from laughing so hard and was doubled over in hysterics.

"That was like, the _bestest! _I can't believe you did that!" she said, slapping a hand on Sonny's back and catching her breath. "No one ever beats my brother! He deserved it!"

"I would have won if he hadn't cheated!" Stan grumbled, holding his head up.

"Nope, you're just a sore loser!" Sandy retorted, sticking out a tongue at her brother.

Stan slowly picked himself up off the floor. "Am not! Next time I'll win, you'll see!" he sneered, glaring angrily at the gecko who didn't even seem to care one way or the other that he won.

"Why can't you just chill out?" she said. Stan didn't answer, instead rubbing his sore neck which had been irritated by the intensity of the race. She didn't mention anything, but Sandy suspected that he was almost more upset that his own sister wasn't supporting him. "Fine, I'll cheer for you next time."

"You sure don't sound like you mean it."

"Well, what do you want from me, then?"

"Why are you being so uptight?"

"Don't call me that!"

While the two siblings were bickering, Sonny had been snooping around along the edge of the wall and found something that piqued his curiosity. "Hey, there's a crack in the wall!" Stan and Sandy spun their heads in his direction before they had a chance to beat each other into a pulp.

"A what?" Sandy asked, momentarily halting their dispute. Stan followed behind them, arms crossed and not making eye contact with either of them.

"A crack! It's just big enough for us to fit in!" He pointed to a pitch black hole in a wall, a space where the corner had separated slightly from years of wear giving them access to the inside of the building.

The three held their heads up close, trying to see if there was anything inside. "I wonder if there's tunnels in there?" Sandy said.

"Don't know if we don't look," Stan said, smirking at his sister. "Hope you're not afraid of the dark!"

"I'm not! Not anymore, that is…" she said sheepishly. "Let's go see what's ins- … Sonny?" She looked back at the mysterious crevice to see the very tip of gecko's tail slithering inside.

"Hey! Wait up!" Stan cried, skittering after him with Sandy in tow. They practically tripped over one another trying to get in.

Beyond the crack in the wall was basically just as they had expected. Old, discolored wood lined all sides of them, with a certain amount of deterioration giving the setting an even dingier appearance. The entire cavity had an overpowering musty smell. The only light that could be seen was what was filtering in from the hallway.

"So this is what it's like being in the old part of town," Stan said, crinkling his nose at the scenery.

"Could be worse," Sandy said.

"It's dark in here!" Sonny exclaimed.

As Stan crept forward, he witnessed a single eight-legged black splotch which had been resting on a piece of wood duck into a tiny crack in the wall. "Okay, that's it. I'm done. See ya!" he waved at them before Sandy grabbed him and whipped him forward.

"I don't think so, bro. Wasn't it your idea to come in here?" she said with a mischievous look in her hooded emerald eyes. Stan pursed his lips and held his arms close to his body as he marched onwards, suppressing a whimper. The appearance of their surroundings did not change much, save for the occasional ray of light peeking in through the hallway which gave them just enough light to see.

"Whoa, look how far it goes!" Sonny said, pointing a finger down the long, endless corridor.

"Look over here, it looks like a way downstairs!" Sandy said, stopping to peer down into what looked like an intentionally-crafted path to the lower level. "Maybe we're not the only ones who have been in here! What if we like, found the ruins of some ancient hamster civilization?"

"In an old apartment? Nice try," Stan said.

Sandy's jade eyes glowed eagerly, a spirit of adventure bubbling within her. "We should keep going! Maybe we can find an easy way to the clubhouse from here. Who knows where Boss extended all those tunnels?"

"I dunno, but probably not all the way out here!"

"Why don't we go see?"

Sandy now led the way with Sonny obediently following, while Stan warily eyed every crack in the wall for signs of movement. Slowly and carefully, they descended the dilapidated corridor to the first floor. Even for being in the shade, the hot air trapped in the building made the crevices less than tolerable for any long period of time.

The three reached the lower level, which was similarly grimy and dimly lit. Stan paused to kick some dirt away from his feet allowing Sandy to scope the area. Again, the space inside the wall formed a claustrophobic hallway that seemed to go on eternally. Vertical beams formed lines of wooden pillars down the entire stretch. Near the end of the strip, a small beam of light could be seen illuminating the dank corridor far off in the distance.

"Hey! I bet there's a way out down there," Sandy said. She pointed down the passageway towards the shining ray."Yeah, let's not spend too much time in here. I'm ready to go back to the apartment already," Stan grumbled, idly scratching an ear.

The trio advanced onward, trying their best to ignore their surroundings. As they continued, though, a strange piece of wall caught their attention. There was a small nail hanging out of it, not where any other nail should have been, looking almost like a place to hang something. Next to it was even more unsettling - indecipherable scratches marked into the wood. It looked like whatever had put them there wielded something sharp and they really didn't want to find out what. Even though she was trying to hide it, Sandy, too, was feeling uncomfortable. However, the strange setting could have been left there years ago, so they tried not to worry about it. Sandy positioned her head forward, aiming her sights only on the light at the end.

What they didn't see, though, was another shadow, even darker than its surroundings, slinking by just behind the dusty wooden supports.

The shadow moved along noiselessly, weaving in and out of the rafters as it followed them like a predator. It hopped effortlessly between beams overhead, stealthily eying the oblivious hamsters and their gecko partner.

A gentle rush of air brushed past Sandy's shoulder, making a shiver crawl up her spine and causing her fur to stand on end. Suddenly the overwhelming darkness and creepy environment was getting to her. She looked back behind her shoulder at the two boys in her wake with nervous wrinkles appearing on her forehead. "Maybe we should hurry … I don't know if I like it down here so much anymore …"

"Oh, _now _you're scared?" Stan teased.

"No! It's just-" She was interrupted by a thump in front of her, a black shadow falling from the rafters. The shape landed on all fours, pausing to look up at them with fierce golden eyes, and lifted itself up to greet the three travelers. The small amount of artificial light leaking in through the crack in the wall illuminated the creature's glossy black fur.

"…Just what?" the creature snarled. Sandy gasped audibly and ducked behind her brother for safety. Stan threw his arms out to protect her from whatever monster had confronted them. Even Sonny had backed up instinctively. "What have we got here, two hamsters and a lizard? You don't see that every day."

"Don't touch my sister! Go away, you creep!" Stan barked at the intruder, taking on a firm, aggressive stance.

"What, haven't you met a rat before?" he said, narrowing his eyes and taking a step forward. "Have something against us, do you?" The rat's sinewy muscles could be seen shifting under his skin, his bones pressed up against his thin features. He was lean, but nonetheless threatening. He, too, was taller than the hamsters.

"I said don't come any closer!" Stan barked, stomping a foot. His chest heaved in and out with deep, anxious breaths. Sandy's ears flattened against her head as she watched the scene unfold. Their voices echoed in the cavernous tunnel.

"You think I'm afraid of you? You can try to act tough, but your body language is saying it's pretty obvious you're faking it. I can tell you're just a spineless coward," he spat. He looked down his nose at the trio, sliding a paw over his head to smooth out his bristled fur. Though his body was slender, he appeared tough, and that paired with his intense golden eyes and black fur nearly gave him the likeness of a panther. He certainly acted the part. "I've dealt with you hamsters plenty of times and you're all alike. Now hand over what you've got on you and we can make this quick."

It was evident to the hamsters now that the rat was a roaming thief who preyed on innocent travelers in the tunnels. Luckily, both hamsters had left their prized possessions at the apartment, and Sonny didn't have anything on him to begin with.

"We're not carrying anything," Stan said feebly, feeling defeated after the rat had called his bluff. "Let us go."

"I find that hard to believe," he said, his tail whipping impatiently. "Spin around. Prove it." The three did as they were told, and surely enough, there was nothing to be had. The rat clenched his teeth in frustration.

"See? Now please leave us alone!" Sandy spoke up, peeking out from behind her brother.

"Well, I guess I was wrong," the coal black rat said in an unnervingly calm, smooth voice. He stood up straight, looking less like a menacing thief and more like a gentleman, almost suave. "However, I didn't go to all this work to just let you run free. Where are you headed? And don't lie."

The twins exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond. Before they could catch him, Sonny opened his big mouth. "Some human these guys know has an apartment here and we're staying with him. It's a pretty cool place!" The hamsters had to suppress the urge to strangle him on the spot.

"Isn't that something. House pets, are you? I should have known," he sneered, forcing angry glares out of both the twins. "Not that that's bad, though. I can respect you for being unafraid of humans."

The rat's sudden change in demeanor was unsettling. "What do you want from us, then?" Stan demanded.

He ran a tongue over his dry lips. "Tell you what. Just give me the location of this apartment your human friend lives in. Make sure I can get inside and leave me a portion of food while you're at it. If you can do so, I promise no harm. I'll do my thing, and I won't take anything that will be missed. You won't even know I'm there." He slinked forward and held out a thick, clawed paw to the male tiger-striped hamster. "Sound like a deal?"

Stan was apprehensive about making contact with the grubby paw and stalled for a moment to think about the deal. It was hard to tell if the cunning rat was being completely honest, but the hamster gave him a firm handshake regardless. "Fine. It's room 211 in this building. Just … just don't touch my maracas or my sister's ribbon," he said in a dead serious tone.

"I won't. Now get out of here before something worse comes by. House pets don't belong down here." Just as quickly as he had appeared, the rat leaped backwards behind the beams and out of sight, becoming one with the shadows once more. The hamster's hearts raced after their close encounter.

Stan spoke up as soon as he estimated the rat to be far enough away. "Like, let's get out of here." No one hesitated. The three made a mad dash to the opening at the end of the tunnel where the light was pouring in. They scrambled amongst each other to be the first back out in the open.

"Okay … not doing _that_ again," Sandy said, guiltily holding a paw behind her head.

"Yeah, whose bright idea was that?" her brother replied.

"It was all of ours. Don't start arguing about it."

Stan sighed. "Whatever. But now we have to worry about some thug rat breaking into Ryan's apartment. How are we gonna feel safe knowing that?"

"We'll have to sleep close by to him and his dog in case anything happens. That rat may be able to stand up to us, but not a fully grown rottweiler," she said confidently.

"I'm gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight."

Sonny began sauntering off towards the apartment. Stan and Sandy almost missed him but quickly caught him leaving out of the corner of their eyes and ran to catch up. After having to bound up the stairs, his room was right down the hall. His doorway was partially cracked open allowing them to get inside.

Sandy was the first to peek her head inside. "Ryan?" she called out, but he wasn't in the kitchen anymore. It only took a second glance to discover both he and the dog were sprawled out on the living room floor under the ceiling fan.

"Hmm?" the human grunted, lazily turning his head towards the returning guests. "Where did you go?"

"Just around to apartment, to like, check things out," Sandy said, having no intention of telling him of the thief that would be coming in the night. She felt like all she ever did was keep secrets.

"Cool. While you were out I unpacked some of the stuff I had used when I took care of you. You've got bedding, food, some toys, and I have a shallow dish you can use for water. No cage though, I hope you don't mind. I'll have to go buy some stuff for Sonny later."

"No actually, that's perfect!" Sandy said. She paused and remembered the situation they had stumbled into. "Mind if we set that stuff up in your room? It would feel more natural than in the living room."

"Sure, if you want. My room doesn't have air conditioning though and it might get kinda stuffy. But whatever you want to do."

Ryan lifted himself up off the floor to help the hamsters carry their things into the bedroom. They arranged their new home on the carpet right beside the end table with the newly set up aquarium. The fish inside swam towards the group and watched curiously against the glass, most likely expecting to be fed. Ryan's bed was on the far side of the long room, positioned with its side against the single window.

"This looks good," Sandy said, fluffing up her bedding. "How about you, Stan?"

"Mmhmm."

"I don't really care for bedding. I'll sleep wherever, though," Sonny said.

"Glad to hear. Make yourselves at home," Ryan said, grinning broadly at them as he rested on his knees. He shoved Roscoe's big obtrusive nose away from them. "Just tell me if you need anything, alright? I'm going to the store pretty soon."

"Okay, we'll let you know," Sandy said. Ryan nodded and eased himself up, pushing his dog out of the room and closing the door to allow them some peace.

Sandy laid back in her bedding and breathed a content sigh. Stan turned his head towards her from his spot. "Say, don't you think we should talk to Maxwell again?"

She shot up from her bed. "Oh! I like, almost forgot! We need to go visit him tomorrow!"

"Yeah, he's probably worried about you and stuff," Stan said. He relaxed his arms behind his head.

"I know! I can't believe I didn't think about it … I mean, we were so caught up in all this I almost forgot our whole goal to begin with."

"And that's to find out what's going on, and why we're here."

"Right. We need to wake up first thing tomorrow morning and go visit him at the clubhouse, just the two of us. No offense, Sonny."

"None taken," he replied.

"Just make sure to wake me up, okay?" Stan yawned. "I'm already tired, I think I might take a nap."

The three spent the rest of their day resting and unwinding. Every day some things seemed to get easier on them. It no longer felt quite so awkward talking to other species, although that strange sensation still lingered. However, they would need to keep their guard up for the inevitable that evening, when the black rat made its return. It would be hard to truly sleep soundly that night.


	6. Book of Spells

Chapter 6

* * *

><p>In the middle of the night, a slight scuffling was heard near the front entrance. The shadowy creature struggled to ease itself under the door, muttering under its breath. Finally inside, the intruder stood up to its full height. The black rat had made its return.<p>

"I told them to leave the door open…" he grumbled. He smoothed out his fur and silently shifted forward, cautiously glancing about to make sure no one was watching. His golden eyes flashed in the light from the far window. Normally he wouldn't invade a human's den, as it was far more risky than taking on stray rodents in the tunnels, but this time he was convinced there would be treasures to find. This time around, though, he was armed. The rat had wrapped a leather belt around his waist, and glinting in the bluish moonlight was a small knife tucked to his side, looking like the rounded, stolen tip of an x-acto knife with a handle crafted onto it.

He sniffed around for the food the hamsters had been instructed to leave. Surely they hadn't forgotten that, or there would be consequences. He inhaled again, this time catching a whiff of his rations. He squeezed himself under the fridge. Underneath he found a pile of assorted seeds, clearly from a hamster food mix, neatly piled on top of a napkin. He slid it out from under the refrigerator. "I was hoping for something a little more interesting," he said with disappointment in his eyes. Still, he wrapped up the napkin with the seeds and slung it over his back. Now it was time for the thief to do some real work.

He didn't see anyone in the living room, so he assumed they must have been taking refuge in the bedroom somewhere. He saw a door attached to the left wall of the living room and slipped underneath.

The cerulean glow of the aquarium greeted him immediately in the otherwise dark room. To his right he saw the human sleeping soundly in his bed, which made him wary of approaching any further. Next to the aquarium, though, was the trio he had confronted earlier. He noiselessly slinked closer to them. Next to both were the maracas and the ribbon which they had specifically mentioned not to steal. The rat, though, had specifically mentioned to leave him a way inside and had struggled to fit under the door. He would have no qualms about taking their possessions.

He gently handled a single green maraca, careful not to let it make a sound. He would need to find another napkin or sack to carry them in if he wanted to take them. Backing up, he browsed the room for anything else that would catch his interest. A cup full of pushpins, some ballpoint pens, and a watch might be valuable. He spun around and exited the room again to look for something he could carry his hoard with.

He made his way back to the kitchen and scoured the place for anything useful. He had no idea where the napkins might be, or anything for that matter. It would be a matter of patience. The rat searched through multiple cupboards and most were still empty due to the recent move-in. He muttered a curse under his breath out of frustration.

"This place is useless!" he complained, accidentally slamming a cupboard. He sulked back towards the bedroom to see if he could find anything, unaware of the monstrous presence suddenly stalking behind him.

The rat just barely sensed a heavy footfall behind him and whipped around to greet whatever it was before the monster slammed a colossal, thick paw on top of him. The rat was knocked onto his back, eyes widened, the wind knocked out of him. The sack of seeds on his back spilled in all directions. He craned his neck up to see a pair of vicious hazel eyes staring back down at him. Bulky paw pads fitted with rough claws straddled his head, keeping him still.

"Get off of me!" the rat hissed, struggling against the unbearable weight.

"What are you doing in here?" came a stern voice from above. It was the human's dog, who he had completely missed on his initial rundown of the area. It had been curled up on the couch the entire time. He could have slapped himself for his foolishness, and now he was going to pay. "Speak up!" the dog growled.

The rat, fearful for his own safety, did not hesitate in submitting to the dominant creature. He did not like stooping to this level, but it was necessary. He knew dogs were very concerned with order and hierarchy and was ready to appease him. "Please raise your paw, master! Then I will talk."

The dog, Roscoe, was not expecting to be addressed in such a way and briefly let the rat get up. Despite this, he held his paw firm on his tail to keep him from getting away. The black rat swiftly tossed his blade to the side without detection to avoid any further suspicion.

His heart thundered against his chest. "I just came to borrow some food that the hamsters had left out! We met in the tunnel, just ask them!" he said.

"Our hamsters? What did they look like?" he snarled, the skin on his snout wrinkling up in distaste.

"It was dark, so excuse me if this is wrong," he began, feeling the dog tighten his hold against his tail, "but I believe they were identical. One was male, one female. They were striped hamsters, small, most likely roborovskis. They had a lizard with them."

"And you're saying they left out food for you?"

"That's right. I'm thin and starving, and I've just barely been able to scrape by. They were gracious enough to allow me to borrow some of theirs. Please believe me," he pleaded. The dog's gleaming eyes were narrowed.

Suddenly, both of them looked up at the bedroom door to see another tall shape standing in the frame. "What's going on out here?" a tired, husky voice asked. The uproar in the living room had woken Ryan up, and in turn, the twins and Sonny, who were standing at his feet.

"You three! Tell this dog to let me go!" the rat shouted back towards them.

"Roscoe! Leave it!" Ryan ordered. The dog did not want to disobey his owner and stepped back, lowering his head. The black rat was about to run towards the three he had met in the tunnel but didn't want to confront the human as well. He was caught in the middle.

"It's him!" Stan exclaimed, recognizing the sleazy rat from before.

Ryan looked down at the three standing below him. "You know this guy?"

"We met him when we went out exploring. He-"

The rat was not about to let any foolish hamsters break his cover. "I was hungry. I just wanted to come for the food, and that is all. I meant no harm," he said in a calm, collected voice, talking his way out smoothly. He didn't want to come off as selfish or needy, but what he had failed to make known to the three in the tunnel was that he was truly struggling to take care of himself, continuously scraping along on the brink of starvation. It was unknown how much further he would make it.

Ryan looked at the hamsters expectantly, waiting for a response. Sandy immediately worried that he would be upset by them letting a dirty _rat_ of all things into his new apartment. She would need to save face, and fast, though he didn't look incredibly perturbed besides the fact that he was visibly tired. "…Yes, that's right. He wanted us to leave out some food for him." Sandy explained. The rat knew that this was only the half-truth, but if he could get off with minimal damage then the better off he would be.

"That's all you wanted? I've got plenty of food, you could have just asked," the tall ginger boy said. The tiger-striped hamgirl was relieved that he did not seem upset, but was now worried that he was going to let the intruder stay with them.

"You can understand me too? What kind of place is this?" the rat asked, slightly taken aback.

"It's a long story. We'll explain it later," he said. "Anyways, if you want to clean up and stay awhile, maybe fill yourself up a bit, be my guest." He found it hard to turn anyone away, and this was no exception. He would feel terrible sending a starving rodent away to die, especially one he could openly communicate with.

Though he felt uneasy settling in the human's home, it was a difficult offer for the rat to turn down. He would need to swallow his pride and accept it lest he wanted to die. It would be for a few days, at most. "I accept your offer. I'll only stay long enough to get my health back up, and then I'm out." He was surprised at how welcoming the human was being. Not everyone cared for rats.

Ryan nodded. "Whatever you want. Before I forget to ask, do you have a name you go by?"

He flattened his black ears against his head, almost in shame. "I haven't needed to use my name in ages. But if you really want, you can call me Maurice."

He almost immediately felt a little more relatable with a name tag attached to him. Still, Stan and Sandy couldn't help but feel uncomfortable letting the shady rat into their apartment without hardly a hesitation. Maurice gave the two a sly smirk from afar. Sandy was about to express her concern to Ryan but didn't want to question his authority in his own home.

"If you want, I can set you up a place to sleep tonight. I've got some bedding left over, and I can give you your own dish for food and water. Sound okay?" He glanced at everyone. "…And this is the last person we're inviting to stay with us, alright? We're overrun as it is." The hamsters nodded, feeling slightly guilty.

"Sure. But I want my own spot, not by those three," he said. He motioned to the twins, who breathed a sigh of relief.

Sonny tried running up beside him. "I'll sleep with you!"

"No you won't."

"I'll put you in the corner, if that's what you want. Now let's hurry, I've got work tomorrow morning and I've got to go back to bed. Come on," he said, waving everyone back into his room with the exception of Roscoe, who moved back to the couch. Maurice personally preferred him as far away as possible.

After that was completed, Ryan climbed back into his bed leaving the rodents to sleep for the night. Stan and Sandy had Sonny stretch out in front of them between them and the rat, and the two snuggled together just in case. If they at least made it through this night unharmed, they figured Maurice could be trusted well enough. Maurice, too, kept a wary eye out for himself.

* * *

><p>Sandy woke up briefly while Ryan got ready for work but quickly dozed off again. She later woke up to the warm rays of sun practically burning her fur. She rolled over and yawned, disturbing Stan in the process. "Well, we didn't get assassinated," the tiger-striped hamboy said sleepily.<p>

"That's always good news." Sandy ran her paws through her fur to groom herself before remembering something. "Oh! We have to visit the clubhouse today and see Maxwell!" she said quietly as to not wake up the other two. Sonny had his back turned to them and Maurice could be seen fast asleep in his corner.

Stan scratched his forehead. "Yeah, I suppose. We should get going if we want to meet him. He probably doesn't know where we are."

"I know! I feel kinda bad, maybe we shoulda told him before we left," she said, holding a paw to her chin. "Anyways, let's see if we can find our way there. It can't be too hard."

The twins both got up and straightened out their fur and made their way out the door from Ryan's room. Sandy quickly scanned the area, just to be sure. The only known presence was Roscoe lying by the couch. He lifted his head up to say hello. "Good morning," he said, squinting in the bright light. He seemed a lot more friendly than he did when they saw him last night.

"Morning," Sandy said faintly. "We're going to meet our friend for a while today. We'll be back later, okay?"

"Sure thing. I'll keep the place safe. Make sure that rat doesn't get into trouble, you know?" he said, sitting up to stretch out his back.

The hamsters were reassured, knowing the place would be in good paws with Roscoe in charge. They waved their goodbyes and exited out the front door into the hallway.

"Okay, now where to?" Stan asked as they walked towards the stairs.

"Not in the walls, that's for sure."

"No kidding."

They pushed their way out the front door at the bottom of the steps and into the cool morning air. The hamsters hiffed the area for a few moments. "Maybe we should like, just walk. I don't know if there'd be any tunnels that go back down to the clubhouse," Sandy said.

"I think you're right," Stan said. They began slowly trotting back to their familiar hangout pad. Hopefully Maxwell would have some good news for them.

* * *

><p>Stan and Sandy creaked open the door to the clubhouse. "Hamha, girlfriends!" Sandy immediately greeted the hamgirls as if nothing had changed.<p>

"Bonjour, Sandy! We 'ave missed you!" Bijou called out. The pigtailed French ham and her friends were all knitting in a circle.

"Have you been busy? It's been a few days," Pashmina said. She was busily making herself another scarf while Penelope mostly played with the yarn.

"Ya, totally! I joined Hillary at work for a few days. We had like, tons of fun!" Sandy said, but couldn't help but feel a knot in her stomach from mentioning the name.

Maxwell swiveled his head around upon hearing the tiger-striped girl's voice come from the door. "Sandy!" he cried a little too excitedly, which turned a few of their heads in his direction. "I mean, good to see you again!" he said awkwardly, turning beet red. He buried his head back into his book to hide his face.

He couldn't hide his embarrassment from Sandy, who approached him and put a paw on his shoulder. "Like, good to see you too, Maxwell!" The girls giggled.

She motioned him to come join her by the hamgirls to read while they were knitting and he gladly obliged. They plopped down next to each other in the circle. Sandy caught up on some gossip and started idly experimenting with some yarn while Maxwell continued in his book. However, neither could really concentrate as both knew they needed to talk.

He set his thick book down. "Hey Sandy, I think I left my other book outside when we were playing acorn soccer the other day. Want to help me find it?" he asked. It took Sandy a moment to catch onto his true intention - he wanted to speak to her in private. She nodded.

"Maybe Stan wants to come too?" she asked.

Stan's ears pricked forward. "Come where?"

"Outside. We're going to look for Maxwell's book he left out there." She added a deliberate cough at the end of her statement, and Stan got the message.

"Totally. I'm the _king _at finding things," he said, throwing himself out of his chair. Sandy raised an eyebrow at her brother as he ran up to join them.

"Like, we'll be right back!" Sandy said, waving to the ham-hams. She slammed the door behind them.

They looked behind them as if to make sure no one was listening. "Okay, what's up?" Stan asked immediately.

Maxwell sighed. "Well … we found some stuff. I think it would be best if we took you back to Elder Ham's place, the books are all there. And to be honest, I left my encyclopedia there."

"Really? You found out what happened to us?" Sandy exclaimed, a cheerful look returning to her emerald green eyes. She sidled up closer to her boyham.

"Awesome! Can you fix it?" Stan chimed in.

"Hold on, hold on!" Maxwell said, holding his paws out to keep the twins at bay. "Look. I need you to be patient. I think it's important that we all settle before talking about it, okay?" He seemed a little distraught, which caused Sandy to wonder.

"Why can't you tell us now?" Stan asked impatiently.

He ignored the tiger-striped flirt. "We scoured through tons of books all day, even borrowed some from his acquaintances, before we came even close to an answer we were looking for. Not even I could believe it, but Elder Ham seemed familiar. Trust me, he knows better than I do and can explain it well."

"Can you at least give us a hint?"

"No!" he said. "If you can be patient, you'll be glad you waited. I'll take you two back over there, he's waiting for us." His demeanor was serious, and he certainly wasn't in any mood for playing around. Sandy read his emotions like a book and did not question him. Maxwell was only snappish when something was really bothering him.

The three exited the tunnel and began their hike to Elder Ham's cottage. It was quite literally over the river and through the woods.

* * *

><p>As soon as they arrived at their destination, a short, bearded gray hamster could be seen sitting on an exposed root near the door.<p>

"Why, hello!" he called out, grooming his beard. "What brings you back to my abode?"

"The you-know-what, remember? All the books we looked through yesterday?" Maxwell said, causing the twins to look at each other unsurely. Elder Ham scratched his chin.

"Ahh, yes, I do remember!" he said, raising his brow. "I couldn't possibly forget! Never! Come inside, you whippersnappers."

Elder Ham slowly heaved himself off of his seat and hobbled back inside as the three ham-hams followed in step. There on the main table was a scattering of books that still hadn't been put away from when Maxwell visited. The old ham plunked down on a stool.

"Do you remember which book it was?" the tall bookworm asked, peering around at the mess on the table.

"Of course I do! You act like you don't trust me. Sit down, all of you," he ordered. They did as they were told. Elder Ham hummed absentmindedly as he began searching for the book he needed.

Maxwell cleared his throat. "Now, the two of you, I just want to warn you first. This might be exactly what you expected, or it might come as a surprise. Nevertheless, I want you to understand this might be a _big deal,_" he said, emphasizing the last two words which made the twins uneasy, especially Sandy.

Stan tried to come off as though he wasn't bothered and shook his maracas which he was still carrying, due to the fact that they were practically glued to his paws. "Like, big deal? Can't possibly be bigger than being able to talk to any animal."

Maxwell looked at him stone-faced. "I understand, but this is different. It's a bit hard to explain, so bear with us. Please take it with a grain of salt, though." His heart raced.

"Aha! Here it is," Elder Ham proclaimed, holding up an old, burgundy book. It was clearly from days long past, featuring a scuffed-up, unreadable cover and tattered, yellow pages. He brushed off the front cover and set it down with a whump. "I knew I had recognized your situation before, and we found all the details in here. It's an old storybook full of spells and such but it describes your case quite clearly!"

"A storybook? Full of _spells?_" Stan said incredulously. "I thought we were going for scientific evidence here."

"Yes, indeed it is! But when you are not dealing with the natural, the remedy is also going to be unnatural," he said.

"Do you mean … someone put a spell on us?" Sandy asked, holding her paws up to her cheeks.

"I'm not there yet!" he said. He flipped open to the pages they had referenced. "In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you may have put a spell on _yourself_." His expression darkened.

"What? Like, how?" Sandy asked, taken aback. Her heart, too, began to thump against her chest. Maxwell began to sweat anticipating how the story would unfold.

"How, dude? My sister isn't some kind of witch!" Stan said angrily.

He plucked at a whisker on his face. There was just something about him that made him seem kind of like a wise old sage, even if he was a tad forgetful at times. "Listen carefully, and it will all make sense. Now, do you remember exactly what you did at the ranch that day, right when you noticed something was wrong?"

Sandy thought for a moment. "Yeah, when Stan was trapped in the spring, Ryan, er, the human was the only one who was there to help. I had to get his attention and I yelled 'help'."

Elder Ham raised a single finger to stop her from continuing. "Aha! See that now? We have already found your mistake.

"…What did I do?" she asked meekly.

Elder Ham lowered his finger to the yellowed pages of his book. "See here, now. In nature, there is something very important called the _communication barrier_. It helps separate species, and keep us flowing smoothly. Can you imagine if lions were able to talk to their gazelle prey, just like they can speak to other lions? They might think twice about killing them for food, and lions would eventually die out. Imagine this as a worldwide phenomenon. Things just couldn't function that way. Humans are the most isolated from all species, reason being is that they are far too curious for their own good. If they are given something new, they will research it into the ground."

"How does my sister relate to this, though?" her irate brother asked.

"Patience, son. Erm, what was I saying again? You broke my train of thought."

"Something called the communication barrier…" Sandy said.

"Oh, right. The communication barrier, like almost all things, can be broken. When she needed help she called out for the human, and it was the act of intentionally requesting for him that did it. She made it her clear objective to make her voice heard to the human and that is why the barrier was shattered. Most animals will never have to risk this happening to them, as body language usually does the trick."

Sandy's ears sagged. "… I … I really didn't mean for it to happen, I didn't know! Stan could have died if he hadn't been there!" she pleaded.

"That's not all," Elder Ham said. "This is a whole lot more complicated than at first glance, and this is where things get serious. See, nature likes to keep things flowing smoothly, and this sort of thing becomes a disturbance in the system …"

"Go on …"

"And nature doesn't like disturbances … see where I'm headed with this?"

Sandy's paws began to tremble. She really wasn't liking the mood in the room right now. She could tell just from Maxwell that something was not right. "…Maybe?"

"Well, nature doesn't take kindly to little disturbances such as these, and will try to smooth things out again. However, once the communication barrier is broken, it cannot be repaired."

"You're saying we can't go back to normal?" Stan interrupted.

"What do you mean, 'smooth things out'?" Sandy asked.

"Hold your horses, both of you," Elder Ham said, who waved a hand to quiet them. "The only way nature can smooth things out is by, well, eliminating them."

"What?" both twins chimed in together, shooting up from their chairs. Maxwell's paws began to sweat profusely.

"I told you…" the bookworm said meekly.

Stan leaned forward, a stern expression on his face. "Eliminate? You mean like-"

"I cannot say for certain. The first page in this entry warns that those who break the communication barrier are in for trouble, but it doesn't say what yet," Elder Ham said. Sandy's face paled as she sat back down in her chair, unable to comprehend what she was hearing.

"W-what are you saying? That can't be possible…" the tiger-striped hamboy muttered next to her.

"Yes, I know, it sounds odd now. It will start off very slow - it can't just send an arrow out of the sky at you and wipe you out. And nature itself may need help from the supernatural to do its bidding, which is what this book tells about. More than likely, it will start off psychologically. There's a specific example in here, for one. Ah, all this talk of spells and such really brings back memories of the olden days…"

"Tell us!" Stan demanded.

"Patience, young one. It's called the _Oblivious Curse_, and it's described as one of the first things that can happen to those who have broken the communication barrier between themselves and other animals. Let me find the page where it is described…" he said, flipped back a few chapters. "Ah, here it is. In a nutshell, it prevents communication between an individual and some of their closest loved ones, as though they were erased from memory-"

"That's … that's exactly what happened to us!" Sandy exclaimed, slamming her paws on the table.

"See? Maybe this book isn't a load of hoo-hah after all," he said. He idly twirled his finger around, then turned back to the page he was looking at before. "There's a lot of very particular clauses in here as well that relate to it. Very complicated, as I said. For these exact effects, it must be between an animal and a human, the animal had to initiate the communication, and so on."

"What else was there, Elder Ham?" Maxwell asked politely. He had put a comforting paw on Sandy.

"Oh, this might be important as well. When the initial breaking of the barrier occurred, there was a ripple effect that began. Those closest to the 'epicenter', thus, Stan, Sandy and that human would be most readily affected. Others can get afflicted with this curse from them as well, though, but it requires talking to both individuals, that being Sandy and the human. Anyone who talks to one but not the other will be safe. Anyone who talks to both, however, may become afflicted."

Sandy's paws began to tremble, her eyes wide as saucers. It was like she was walking around with a deadly disease now. Who knows how many she had affected? She turned to her brother. "Stan, we've done something terrible! I think we might have accidentally infected like, more than just us! Think Roscoe, Sonny, and even Maurice!" Maxwell's head tilted upon hearing the unfamiliar names. "Is there any more?"

"There should have been, but it seems like this book has been well used. Some of the pages are missing in a few chapters, and this happens to be one of them. If I can find another copy, we'll have all the information we need."

Stan tried to keep their spirits light by brushing it off. "Sandy, I don't mean to burst everyone's bubble, but this is like an old book full of spells and junk. You can't expect this to be all true, can you?"

Elder Ham stared at him humorlessly. "Disbelieve if you want, but these things are not to be taken lightly. When I was your age, many hamsters still believed in spells, magic, and the supernatural. When more and more hamsters gave up their wild lifestyle and became domesticated, many of these books were tossed aside or destroyed. I'm astounded even this one survived. Now, hardly anyone references these old things anymore. It's no surprise to me that you don't believe in it either. But don't come crying to me when things don't go your way."

Stan was startled by his sudden scolding and leaned back on his stool, seeming defeated. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You can't say this is all just a coincidence, can you?" he said. Elder Ham's serious side was rarely ever seen. "Everything outlined in the book has been accurate to this point, and it will most likely continue on that path."

"What kind of things are supposed to happen after the first curse?" Sandy asked. Her voice was shaky.

"I cannot say for certain, as it only outlines the first few steps. But it does mention that things will get worse from this point. It will start off in your mind, and if that doesn't work, it will try other methods. The other methods I can't determine at this point. Like I said, we've got some missing pages. It may be quite a task to find another because these are extremely rare nowadays.""So like, maybe nature gives up?" Stan asked.

"Maybe it does. That would be a positive way to look at it, wouldn't it?" A tiny smile returned to Stan's face.

"If the communication barrier thing can't be fixed, can our humans ever see us again?" Sandy asked. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer, terrified that she would never get to experience life with Hillary again.

"Hmm. Well, from my past knowledge, and excuse me if my memory does not serve correctly, but any curse can be undone. The communication barrier itself is not a curse, but the effect that comes afterwards is, if you can understand that. You can't undo the fact that you can talk to any animal, but you can undo the harmful side effects. The only thing is we don't exactly know how."

"But we will look into it!" Maxwell interjected. The attention was turned to him. "Er, we'll keep researching, I promise!"

The last bit of information from Elder Ham was at least a little uplifting. If the words in the book were true, though, they were going to have a lot on their plates. The mood in the room was somber, as if they had just read off the twin's death sentences. It was no wonder Maxwell was acting strange on the way there.

Stan cocked his head to the side slightly. "… So dude, what do you want us to do, then? Like, at least until you can come up with some kind of cure?"

Elder Ham scratched his beard. "Hmm … well, for one thing, keep the rest of the ham-hams away from the human at all costs. Since all of them have talked to Sandy, if they talk to this boy they will get involved as well. The fewer we can drag into this, the better."

"Good thinking," Sandy said. "I think we can do that."

Maxwell leaned in. "I don't mean to butt in or anything, but what have you two been doing these last few days? I mean, with Hillary and Noel not taking care of you, how did you manage?"

Sandy suddenly realized she had never told her own boyham about their situation. "Oh, I'd been meaning to tell you … we did end up finding a place to stay…"

"Oh? Where at?" His ears positioned forward to attention, a curious appearance on his face.

"We did end up going to meet that human on the first day all that stuff happened. We were careful, I promise. Like, we mentioned our humans ignoring us and he offered us a place to stay temporarily so we could at least have something to eat. The clubhouse would have been too suspicious."

Maxwell's brow settled slightly as this was not the first place he would have liked them staying, but at least they had been smart about it. "You're right. The ham-hams would have wondered why you were staying at the clubhouse when your humans were still in town, and I'd offer you to stay in the bookstore with me but my human would likely find out eventually. At least I know you're being taken care of, so that's good. Where can I find this place in case I need to get to you?"

Sandy outlined the directions to their new home to her boyham while Stan was busy questioning Elder Ham. He leaned forward with his paws on the table, seemingly recovered from the previous scolding. "So like, you're not even screwing with us? We seriously have a curse on us?"

"If you want to call it that, yes," the old ham answered.

"This is like, the most uncool thing I have heard in at least a month," he moped. "Ever since Pashmina turned me down for a date, that is."

"It's good to see you have your priorities straight," he said with a sarcastic smirk.

"I'm glad you agree. Sandy just doesn't get it." His sister rolled her eyes from beside him after she finished explaining the location of the apartment to Maxwell.

"I'm glad we have that settled anyways." Maxwell stood up from his stool. "Like I said, Sandy, don't be afraid at all if you need any support from me. I'll be here for you anytime."

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Thanks, Maxy."

"Elder Ham and I will keep working on things and if we get anymore answers you'll be the first to know. Just because a book said nature wants to end you both doesn't mean we need to take it one hundred percent literally. Besides, it didn't even give a time limit." His words were at least comforting.

"Well said, Maxwell," Elder Ham said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm late for my afternoon nap and if you youngin's don't take off soon I am going to be a grumpy old ham tomorrow!" He rose up from his seat and grabbed his cane to herd the hamsters towards the door.

"Like, thank you so much for your kind help, Elder Ham! Even though it the news itself was kind of terrible…" Sandy said to him as they exited back out to the grassy area between them and the pond. Maxwell had his paw on her back. Stan, too, formed a thank-you gesture while holding onto his maracas.

"I'll see you nice hams later. Good luck," he waved. "Maxwell, you can come back here tomorrow anytime."

"Certainly!" he said. With that, the old ham closed the thick door behind him.

They turned around and headed towards the clubhouse, the quiet sunny afternoon interrupted only by the constant twittering of birds in the thick forest. Sandy was first to break the silence between them. "So, that Elder Ham really knows his stuff, huh?"

Maxwell nodded. "More than I had even imagined. As soon as we found the old spellbook it's like he just knew by instinct. I didn't think about taking the book as fact, but he insisted. A weird old ham, he is."

Stan placed his arms behind his head, still seeming skeptical after their meeting. "So like, let's say this is all true. What's the first thing we should do?"

"Hmm. For certain, even though I'd really like to keep you company, I can't stay with you at that human's apartment. I would have to sacrifice either time at the clubhouse or time with my own human, and that wouldn't be reasonable at this point unless … well, things get out of hand. Sorry to disappoint you or anything…"

"No, not at all," Sandy said, grinning towards him. "I mean, I'd love to have you there too, but even Ryan, er, the human, said he'd prefer we didn't bring any more guests."

Maxwell's eyes suddenly lit up, remembering something that he was going to ask her about. "Speaking of which, who were those three names that you mentioned earlier? I can't quite recall them exactly, but…"

"Oh!" Sandy said, forgetting that she had brought them up during their meeting. "Sonny, Maurice, and Roscoe. They're friends of ours that we just met recently." She used the term "friends" _very_ loosely.

"Pshh," Stan scoffed in the background.

"Interesting. Are these hams staying with you too?" he questioned.

"Uhh, they're not really hams either. Like, one good thing about being able to talk to all kinds of animals is that you can make a whole bunch of new friends, too, you know?" Sandy tried to make it sound as innocent as possible. "Sonny's a friendly gecko who needed a human so we were going to help him out, and Maurice is a fellow who needed a home too. Roscoe is Ryan's dog." She dodged around the fact that one of them was a rat, as most rats were notoriously nasty towards hamsters and the ham-hams did not have a very high opinion of them. Boss had previously told them that the notch in his ear came from a fight with a big burly rat in one of his tunnels.

"I'm glad you two are finding ways that thing ordeal can be beneficial. Anyway, be careful around strangers, okay? We don't know what non-hamsters can be like."

"Yup, we know."

Maxwell straightened himself upright after walking with somewhat of a slump. He had been carrying his thick green encyclopedia with him, a cumbersome item for such a long haul. "Anyway, I heard Boss wanted to take us outside for a picnic just after lunch. Would you be interested in joining us?"

"Yeah, totally! We don't have any plans for today," Sandy said cheerfully. A picnic would be a wonderful way to keep their minds off the grim news. Their other option would be going back to the apartment to hang out with Sonny and Maurice all day while they waited for Ryan to get home from work. She didn't even know what time he was done.

"There better be alfalfa sprouts, that's all I care about. And acorns!" Stan chimed in.

"Acorns for sure. Boss actually has a stash of them for us," Maxwell said. Stan shook his maracas excitedly.

"That'll be totally fun! Maybe we can like, eat together, Maxy?"

He looked up at the sun from behind the overhanging branches. The blinding yellow globe could be seen suspended at the very peak of its journey through the sky. "We'd better get moving then, it looks like it's past noon already! Let's go, ham-hams!" He waved for the twins to follow and the three dashed off towards the clubhouse.

* * *

><p>"Hey, where'd you guys go? You almost missed the picnic!" Boss's gruff voice could be heard when the trio descended upon the clubhouse. They hurried to the entrance where the rest of the ham-hams were already gathered, with picnic supplies and food scattered all around.<p>

"Oh, sorry about that!" Maxwell said as they stopped in front of him. "We looked all around outside for my book, and then I remembered that I had actually left it back at the bookstore! These two were gracious enough to join me." He held up his encyclopedia to show him. One of the good qualities about Maxwell was that he was a quick thinker when pressured.

"Well, I'll be a gerbil's uncle. Why don't you help us set up?" Boss said, holding a paw towards their supplies. Cappy, who was busy unfolding a picnic blanket, stopped for a moment to say hello.

"Yeah, no problem. We'd be happy to, right, bro?" Sandy said with a wink as Stan groaned. She knew only one thing that could get him motivated, and casually tossed out, "Why don't we go help out the girls?" Now that was an offer he couldn't pass down, and he gladly followed her over to her friends.

When everything was set up and ready to go, the picnic was ready to begin. All the food was piled high in the center on Boss's best plates, from sunflower seeds to acorns to walnuts. The ham-hams all gathered in a perfect circle, dished up what they wanted to eat and began to chat amongst themselves. It was amazing how much they could find to talk about.

"…And so my owner, Maria, she auditioned to be in ze piano competition. She practiced so 'ard, and zuddenly in ze mail we got a letter saying she made it! I am so 'appy for her!"

"How _wondachu_, Bijou! I'll bet she does well," Pashmina congratulated.

"And 'ow about you, Sandy? Has your human been doing well in ze gymnastics?" Bijou turned to the tiger-striped hamette.

She blushed, partly out of embarrassment and partly out of guilt for having to lie to her friends. "She's like, doing pretty good. Mostly she's been teaching classes to the younger kids, which is cool too," she explained.

"Zat is interezting!" Bijou said. Sandy had dodged one of many bullets that would likely come.

"Yeah, Noel's been pretty busy with his work too," Stan added before anyone could ask him. He had a plate full of alfalfa sprouts in front of him. Maxwell could rest assured the twins could handle themselves. After all, to keep the other ham-hams from being affected all they had to do was keep them away from Ryan, which would most likely be easy.

"Ya'll don't know busy until you've seen Goldie at work. Why, she works harder than a draft horse on the Oregon Trail!" he boasted.

"Yes, but it's a convenience store. Anyone could do that kind of work," Dexter was quick to retort. "My human is an eyeglass specialist, and he too works very hard!"

"I'd like to see him handle one rush o' customers during the busy time of day!" Howdy snapped back. They glared daggers at each other, looking ready to go at it at any second. If it weren't for Panda and Oxnard, who were sitting next to the two and pulled them away before it got out of hand, they might have started an all-out brawl. Some of their most heated arguments happened when the two bickered about their humans.

"It's okay! I'm sure both of your humans work equally hard!" Hamtaro jumped in to save the situation. "Let's finish our meal, there's going to be lots of leftovers to take home!"

The rest of their lunch finished up without a hitch. The ham-hams worked together to clean up their things and were almost ready to head back inside to Boss's new air conditioner, which Maxwell had told the twins was the best thing to ever happen to the clubhouse. Sandy and Stan paused by Maxwell before going back inside.

"Are you two coming?" Maxwell asked before entering.

"Like, I think it'd be best if we go back for now. We still need to get used to things around there and all," Sandy said.

Maxwell nodded. "I understand. Just do what you need to do, and I won't get in your way. We'll see you later." He followed the others back inside, holding up a single paw to wave goodbye.

Sandy looked towards her brother once everyone was gone. "Like, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Nah, not really. It's a pain having to keep secrets though. Like, I just want to tell everyone and see their reaction, you know?" He

"Sometimes I totally want to tell my girlfriends too, but I know I shouldn't."

Stan shrugged, glancing away from his sister with a sly smirk. "_I'd_ talk to your girlfriends in a heartbeat."

Sandy chuckled. "And then they'd think you're even more crazy!" Stan offered her a playful punch to the arm.

Sandy's mind was dragged back to the meeting they had attended merely a few hours ago with Elder Ham. It was hard to believe that they could keep such a light hearted atmosphere after being told that they were in for some unknown trouble. But for her, the news was almost so unbelievable that she couldn't bring herself to fully comprehend the severity of it yet. Maxwell reinforced this as well, saying not to take the warning literally. Stan felt the same as his sister, like the book was merely outlining a worst case scenario.

Either way, they still felt like they needed to go check up on the individuals they left behind at the apartment. "I wonder how Sonny and them are doing? We should probably like, go back and see what they're up to," Sandy said.

"I'm sure they're fine. Roscoe was in charge to make sure they don't burn down the place or something."

"That's good anyway. Still, it's getting to be the late afternoon anyway, and it's kinda a long way back. We should probably start walking now." Stan begrudgingly consented and began to follow her back to the older part of town where the apartment was located. At least they wouldn't have to worry about a lack of exercise without their whiz wheels.

* * *

><p>Sandy poked her head under the wooden door of Ryan's apartment. "Hello?"<p>

There was no answer, the only sound being the heavy snores of Roscoe who was asleep by the window. They didn't see the human's car parked by the building either, so evidently he wasn't home yet. Stan slipped under the door behind her.

"Looks just like it did when we left it. Where is everyone?" Stan asked.

Sandy swiveled her head about. "No idea. Do you think they left?"

"Wouldn't that be something…"

The blinds in the living room were shut though some light managed to trickle inside, giving some light to the otherwise dark room. The twins looked around for any other signs of life. She was kind of happy about it though, because she knew she was going to have to break the news of their curse to Ryan, at least. Her stomach was in knots just thinking about it.

"Looking for someone?" a voice was heard from above. The twins whirled around to find the source of the smooth-tongued individual. There was Maurice, standing at the edge of the kitchen counter squeezing water out of his fur. It looked like he had been bathing in the sink. The twins barely recognized him.

He jumped down from the counter and landed on his feet near the two hamsters and walked up to them. "If you're looking for the human, he's not here. He won't be home until later."

"Thanks captain obvious, we already know that," Stan scoffed. Sandy held onto her brother's arm as though she was begging him not to start a conflict.

Deep creases formed in the rat's brow. "Don't get snippy with me. I was trying to be helpful." The fur on his neck bristled, sending a shiver up Sandy's spine.

Sandy attempted to make up for her brother's confrontational attitude by putting on her friendliest face. "Maurice, you look … you look nicer today!" She grinned awkwardly, realizing too late that she had kind of implied that he didn't look nice earlier, even though it was a fact.

"Thanks. I've been needing to wash myself off for a while," he said, not bothered by her comment. He continued to dry himself off. In truth, his appearance had done a complete 180 from the dirty tunnel rat they had seen the day before. Instead of looking mangled and greasy, his fur had been washed and brushed completely clean, giving it a fine, glossy sheen. "Sorry about the dish soap smell. I don't like it either, but the stuff works."

"No, I don't mind, really! My human sometimes uses a little bit of strawberry shampoo on me. I like it," she said reassuringly, trying her best to make small talk with the rat to keep him on their good side.

"Is your human that male who lives here?" he asked. "What's his name, again?"

"Oh, no, he's just a … a friend of ours. That's Ryan. Our real humans are out of town," she lied. Beads of sweat formed on her brow.

"Oh really? For how long?"

"Umm … I don't remember her saying, but it'll be a while. My brother's human went with her." Sandy's cheeks reddened.

"That's interesting. I mean, that you're staying here without a cage or anything," he said, narrowing his vivid golden eyes. Sandy worried that he had seen through her story. "But, no matter or anything. Just a curiosity." She breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't appear to want to question them further. It appeared that they had calmed him down.

"Where's Sonny, by the way?" Stan asked. Maurice turned his head towards the other tiger-striped hamster.

"He was bothering me all day, so I showed him how to turn on the TV. He's been playing video games ever since." He pointed a thumb towards Ryan's bedroom as he squeezed the remaining water from his fur.

"Good thinking," Stan replied.

"C'mon, let's go see what he's up to!" Sandy said, dragging her brother along. The door was cracked partially open, just enough for them to slip inside. Sitting on the plain beige carpet was a small TV with a game system hooked up to it. Sonny was standing in front of a controller, expertly coordinating his arms to press the buttons and push the analog sticks like he was operating an aircraft while his tail swished excitedly behind him. He faintly heard the hamsters approach and looked back for a moment, then quickly paused the game to greet them.

"Hey! You're back!" he exclaimed, running up to one of the twins and constricting them in a giant bear hug. The unfortunate hamster happened to be Stan.

"Good to see you, too," Stan said agitatedly, forcefully shoving himself away from the gecko.

"Maurice got sick of playing with me, so he showed me this tee-vee thing. It's the best, and I can play all kinds of games! It was easy to learn, too," he explained. On the screen was an old-fashioned arcade game.

"That's great, Sonny. What else is new?" Sandy asked, glancing over towards the unmade bed by the window. There were still some boxes with miscellaneous belongings scattered about that needed to be put away. As her mind wandered, she saw a black figure creep into the room from the corner of her eye, that figure being Maurice. Their eyes turned to him.

"Were you lonely out there or something?" Stan sneered. Sandy's face flushed with irritation towards her brother.

"No, not at all. I'm never lonely. I just didn't want to be alone with the dog," he said, leisurely walking up towards the group but keeping a good distance away. He crossed his arms.

"Hey! Do you want to play a game with me now?" Sonny asked enthusiastically, seeing the rat approach. His bright brown eyes were wide with anticipation.

"No. I'm only here to get myself in better shape and then I'm leaving." The gecko's shoulders slumped. Sandy almost felt sorry for the two being left alone together all day.

He was about to answer when they heard the outside door click, followed by footsteps walking into the apartment. They heard a loud shuffling as Roscoe got up to meet him by the door. "Oh, Ryan must be home from work!"

The door handle turned and the human slowly opened the door in case anyone was standing in front of it. Once he knew the coast was clear, he stepped inside. His work uniform, a black polo, was dirty from being at work. "So, the party's in my room?" he said. Roscoe followed him inside, narrowing his hazel eyes at Maurice.

"Of course it is!" Stan answered with a wink, pointing a maraca forward.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked, sauntering over to his dresser to find some clothes to change into.

"…Like, not really. We visited our friends and these two hung out all day," Sandy said, pointing to the two boys. Maurice gave Sonny a humorless look.

"Sounds like a good time. Hey, you found the video games? We should set that up on the good TV in the living room. Maybe I'll play with you later." Sonny's mouth opened into a huge smile. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go change out of these clothes. I'll be right back." He slipped into the bathroom which was connected to his room, leaving the four others to stand around awkwardly.

Sandy shuffled her feet. "I wonder what else there is to do around here?" They looked up at the dimmed aquarium to see the fish inside lazily swimming around. Even though it was darkened, they could see that two of them were particularly brilliant - one was olive green with bright orange stripes, while the other had a vivid iridescent blue sheen with gold flaking. Sandy watched them with a curious look in her emerald eyes, as she had always had a slight interest in fish. They almost appeared at though they were watching her back sometimes.

"Maybe we should just take it easy tonight, sis," her brother mentioned.

She tightened her lips into a thin line. "Like, it's hard to take things easy when… when…" She had to stop herself from continuing her sentence. Sonny and Maurice both gave her a strange look. She didn't have the heart to tell them about the curse that might have been placed on each of them, effectively putting their lives in danger if the message the book carried was true. "Nevermind. I just miss home, that's all." Stan, who usually kept the appearance of being oblivious, seemed to sense that she was suddenly feeling down.

Ryan came out of the bathroom with a t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants on despite the fact that it was only around dinnertime. He saw his guests eying him. "…Did I miss something?" he said, cocking a brow.

Sandy shook her head. "…No, nothing. Don't mind us." He didn't know what to make of their behavior. Ryan then appeared to remember something.

"I forgot! I brought Sonny some food. I had to look up what day geckos eat, so I hope you like it. One sec." He snuck out to the living room to get his backpack and came back with his arms full. "I got you some fruit mix and mealworms at the pet store," he said, crinkling his nose at the last item. He held up the can to show him.

"Oh! Perfect!" Sonny exclaimed, running up towards the human's feet. "Can I have them now?"

"Sure, let me get you your own dish. Oh, and I got you other guys some more seeds and stuff, too," he said, holding up another bag. Maurice made a curious _hmph _sound while the other two looked pleased.

Sonny swiftly scuttled up Ryan's body and onto his shoulder before he even had time to react, giving the human goosebumps. He placed a hand next to the gecko who had plopped down by his neck. "I guess you're coming with, then? Hang on."

The two exited the room, leaving behind the three rodents. Maurice glared at the twins before heading off towards the living room with the others, whereas Stan then stuck a tongue out at him once he had his back turned. Sandy punched his arm and mouthed "stop it!" to her brother. She began to walk off towards their own sleeping area.

Stan sprinted up to catch her. "Hey, what's your problem? You were acting just fine a little while ago!" He put a paw on her shoulder only to have it slapped away. He stumbled back in shock as Sandy's eyes began to well up with tears.

"Like, think about things for once, bro!" she snapped, trying to keep her voice down at the same time. "I've made a terrible mistake and all of these people are going to pay for it!"

"You don't know that! It's a dusty old book that's been sitting away for years. If we're not dead yet, who's to say anything's even going to happen to us?"

"It's just an old book, huh?" she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. "Well, we already have proof of _one_ curse being put on us, and that's why we're not at home with our humans right now! It's just a silly old book, though, right?"

Stan could not find the words to come back at her with. Instead, he submitted to his overbearing sister. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked at her. "Look, I'm sorry if I made you mad. It's no use being upset about it though and spending all your time moping. Just enjoy things while we're here, alright?"

Sandy blinked at her brother. "Stan…"

He continued on. "I don't like it when you're mad. Not because you yell at me … well, that too, I guess … but it just bring me down, too. Just keep your mind off stuff, okay? Maxwell and Elder Ham will do their research, and we'll get things back to normal. Elder Ham said so himself."

"But like … I have to make sure Ryan knows. We're the center of it, and he needs to know so we don't infect anyone else. It wouldn't be fair otherwise," she said, her ears sinking. She sniffled a little.

Stan nodded. "Okay. Just like, don't straight-up tell him we're going to die or something or then we'll all be depressed, and no one wants that. Alright?"

"I know. I got this," she said, seeming a little more like her usual self.

"Good. I'm gonna go join the others, okay?" he said. He kept an eye on her before turning his back and leaving the room. Sandy was now by herself, just her and the fish. She ducked down in her bedding as she waited for the human to come back. She merely closed her eyes and daydreamed.

Soon enough, he was back. Ryan had returned to his room and tromped over to fetch his game console for Sonny when he caught sight of Sandy waiting like a shark in her bed of fluff. "Hm? Why aren't you with everyone else?" he asked. His large shadow encompassed her as he leaned down with his hands on his knees.

She stood up and paused for a moment, gathering up the courage to speak to him. It was all or nothing. She puffed up her chest and said in her most confident voice, "Ryan, I need to talk to you about something important…"

* * *

><p>Well that was a long one lol! Now that everything's all set up, let's get this ball rolling. I'm hoping to get some action in here eventually. ;)<p> 


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